Constitutional Court rules on Ukraine's election law (03/08/98)

Constitutional Court rules on Ukraine's election law

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukraine's Constitutional Court ruled on February 26 that certain provisions of the country's new election law are unconstitutional, but decided that the needed changes could take effect after the upcoming elections to the Verkhovna Rada.

In a unanimous vote, Ukraine's highest constitutional authority declared 21 provisions in the law unconstitutional. Most notably it decreed that candidates cannot run simultaneously in single mandate electoral districts and on national party lists. However, that change will not become effective until the parliamentary elections in 2002.

Candidates will retain "All the rights they had according to the law prior to the Constitutional Court's decision," explained Chief Judge Ivan Tymchenko. "So those registered in both single mandate districts and on party lists are legal, but from this moment and into the next elections it will be illegal."

Many candidates who were included on the registered lists of political parties decided to double up their bet by also registering in local districts, where a winner is declared by a simple majority of votes. Of the 4,259 candidates running for office in single mandate districts, 37 percent are also on party tickets. Final registration for candidates in the March 29 election ended on January 27, so those who registered for both parts of the elections did so legally.

In Ukraine's new mixed electoral system, which was approved by the Verkhovna Rada in September, each voter will choose two candidates for Verkhovna Rada: one from among those running in local electoral districts and a second candidate from one of 30 political parties registered for the elections. The 450 legislative seats in the Verkhovna Rada are divided so that half the representatives will be selected from the 225 electoral districts of Ukraine and the other half chosen from party rosters based on the percentage of the vote that each registered party receives.

The Constitutional Court sidestepped the most controversial aspect of the law that it was asked to review: whether or not a requirement that a party must attain at least 4 percent of the electoral vote to be represented is constitutionally acceptable. The court ruled that the issue is a political matter for the Verkhovna Rada to decide and left the 4 percent threshold in place.

"We considered the issue very carefully and decided that it is a political issue," explained Pavlo Yefrakhov, the lead judge in the case.

The constitutional validity of the law had been questioned by various Verkhovna Rada deputies, including centrist legislators loyal to President Leonid Kuchma and members of the national democratic factions.

National deputies who opposed the mixed system, mostly those in the Kuchma camp, feared the increased influence of political parties, which would decrease the power of local administrative officials, President Kuchma's power base in Ukraine. Those who were against the 4 percent threshold argued that such a limit violates the voting rights of supporters of small parties.

The Constitutional Court's decision will most hurt Ukraine's political center, which is severely fractured among more than a dozen parties. It will aid Ukraine's Communist, and Socialists, who have maintained solid support well above the 4 percent threshold in all sociological polls.

Although they have solid political support in Ukraine with nearly 30 percent acceptance among the population, the centrist parties are divided into so many political parties and blocs that only three or four currently have a chance to make the mark.

In other parts of the decision the court ruled that it is unconstitutional to extend the from criminal prosecution immunity currently held by elected national deputies to those running as candidates. It also said that citizens deprived of their civil rights, such as convicted criminals serving sentences, cannot run for public office.

Foreseeing the possibility that those bent on disrupting the elections might continue to petition the Constitutional Court on other grounds related to the election law, Justice Yefrakhov made it clear that the court would not return to the issue in the near future. "If there are any problems after this with the election law, it should be decided by the general courts based on today's ruling," said the justice.