Documents library

This joint opinion is intended to assist the authorities of Ukraine to further develop and improve the legislative framework for the conduct of democratic elections in order to meet OSCE commitments and Council of Europe and other international standards. The Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR remain committed to provide assistance to further improve the legal framework for elections in Ukraine. However, the extent to which any amendments to the law can have a positive impact will ultimately be determined by the level of good faith and political will exhibited by state institutions and officials responsible for implementing and upholding the law.

Transcript of video address to the Russian community and NGOs in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian community and NGOs in Russia on an HCNM study on the educational situation of ethnic Russians in Ukraine and ethnic Ukrainians in Russia.

This joint opinion on the Draft Law No. 3366 About Election to the Parliament of Ukraine (“draft law”) is provided by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) and the Council of Europe’s European Commission for Democracy through Law (“Venice Commission”) upon a request from the Ukrainian Parliament Committee on State Building and Local Self-Governance. This joint opinion comments on the most recent version of the draft law (CDL(2009)084). Earlier opinions of the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission, as well as numerous election reports from previous OSCE/ODIHR and Council of Europe observation missions in Ukraine, provide excellent background for understanding the historical development of the election legislation in Ukraine. This draft law continues to incorporate recommendations for improvement. The most significant change is the introduction of a new electoral system. The system proposed in the draft law provides for 450 parliamentarians to be elected under a form of proportional representation that uses territorial election districts, including a foreign territorial election district where ballots are cast by out of country voters. Under the proposed system, most members of parliament will be elected from national lists, with the mathematical possibility for individual political party candidates to be elected within an in-country territorial election district from a territorial list.