Kuchma set to sign election law (10/28/01)

Kuchma set to sign election law

by Jan Maksymiuk
RFE/RL Poland, Belarus and Ukraine Report

PRAGUE - Following four previous vetoes, President Leonid Kuchma told journalists on October 19 that he will most likely sign the parliamentary election bill passed by the Parliament last week. Mr. Kuchma recalled that on the eve of the voting on the bill he met with a number of parliamentary leaders and reached a compromise. The Communist Party, the Socialist Party, and the Fatherland Party refused to back the bill.

The Verkhovna Rada on October 18 voted 234-123, with 79 abstentions, to adopt a new version of the election bill that was vetoed by the president last month.

Following Mr. Kuchma's suggestion, the deputies shortened the election campaign to 90 days. They insisted, however, on the provision that territorial election commissions obligatorily include members of the parties that won no less than 4 percent of the vote in the previous parliamentary ballot. As for more than 100 other parties, the bill stipulates that their representation in those commissions should be determined by drawing lots.

The bill abolishes the requirement to collect 500,000 signatures in support of parties seeking to register their candidates. Instead, a party is to pay a security deposit equal to 15,000 untaxed minimum official wages (some $48,000) in order to qualify for elections. A individual will have to submit 60 minimum wages ($190). The Communists and the Socialists claim their candidates are too poor to offer such sums, while their opponents argue that signature collection is more costly.

Fatherland Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko said on October 19 that the adopted election bill will "work for the team of the Ukrainian president." She added that 90 days is not enough to properly canvass parliamentary election candidates in the media. It appears that Ms. Tymoshenko is afraid that Ukraine's most influential media - which are controlled either by the state or the oligarchs - will favor pro-presidential and oligarchic groups in the elections.

If President Kuchma signs the bill, the election campaign will start on January 1, 2002, while the voting will take place on March 31.

Jan Maksymiuk is the Belarus, Ukraine and Poland specialist on the staff of RFE/RL Newsline.

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