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With 2019 just around the corner, Ukraine is preparing for two landmark elections next year - presidential and parliamentary elections. Issue no. 10 gives an outlook on next year’s presidential and parliamentary elections with a special focus on the lack of an effective system of legal liability for violations of the electoral law. 

The international community considered the “General elections” in Donetsk and Lugansk as illegitimate and did not send any observers to monitor them. Aiming to fill the void of legitimacy, the “authorities” of the DPR and LPR invited dozens of “international observers” from countries such as Austria, Canada, France, Italy and  Germany. None of them were transparent about the methodology they employed for observing the election processes and, therefore, violated the Code of Conduct for International Election Observers. We have identified their names and their background.

One of the key aspects of the electoral reform in Ukraine is the abolition of the parallel election system which should be replaced by a fully proportional parliamentary election system with open party lists. The application of a parallel system with a majoritarian component leads to preservation of an old political elite, thus the current parliament have no will to replace it.

Nataliia Lynnyk, Vice-Director of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU), highlighted that the coalition agreement of 2014 envisaged the transition to a proportional electoral system with open lists in Ukraine, but its approval is still critically dependant on political consensus and the existence of political will of the parliamentary coalition and the president. 

On 4 April, the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy and Justice confirmed the composition of a working group assigned to prepare the second reading of the draft Electoral Code No. 3112-1. The draft Electoral Code was approved by the Ukrainian Parliament in the first reading in November last year. It advocates a proportional system for parliamentary elections with open regional party lists.

The introduction of an exclusive first-past-the-post voting system, as proposed in Draft Law No. 7366, would fundamentally contradict the goals of Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity and the commitments of the ruling coalition. It would also oppose the will of the majority of Ukrainians, who, according to a recent poll conducted by the Razumkov Centre, are in favour of a fully proportional electoral system with open party lists for parliamentary elections.

Three draft laws on the parliamentary elections, registered in the Parliament in December 2014, have finally been added to the agenda of the Parliament for the first reading on Thursday, October 19, 2017. However, all three initiatives on the reform of Ukraine’s electoral legal framework failed to receive necessary support in the Parliament.