Friday, July 10, 2009

President slams draft bills on presidential election, referendum

President Victor Yushchenko considers alteration of the law on presidential election in a way it was proposed today dangerous for democracy in our country and transparency of the election, he said at the press conference in Rivne.

Speaking about particular problems in the suggested wording of the law President Yushchenko said that giving preference to political parties represented in the parliament when appointing electoral commissions is wrong and "proves that the two political parties continue their efforts aimed at making any non-party -problem, such as presidential elections, the party's", - said Victor Yushchenko.

Another remark the President made was about the suggested court order support at all stages of elections. In his opinion the suggested procedures do not meet current legislation.

Speaking about the suggested draft law on referendums Victor Yushchenko pointed to the fact that some questions the law makes a subject of referendum actually according to the Constitution cannot be made such and added that the Constitutional Court has already provided its decision on the issue.

Also Victor Yushchenko named a big legal mistake the article obliging the President of Ukraine to appoint a referendum in 7 days after more than 3 million signatures were collected.

Beside that Victor Yushchenko criticized the suggested order of approving the results of a referendum saying that referendum results are of direct action and do not require approval.

"I insist upon only one thing: the law on presidential elections and the law on referendums must ensure democratic development, precise execution of the Constitution and legislation on one hand, and introduction of democratic procedures, rather than abandoning them and re-shaping the procedure of election and referendum itself in accordance with the vision of two political forces on the other", - said Victor Yushchenko.