Majority electoral system hasn’t brought local deputies closer to their voters

A survey in Kherson and Tsyurupynsk has found that the majority system used during the 2010 Local Elections has not achieved any greater connection between deputies and their voters despite efforts having been made in Kherson.

The monitoring was carried out from 25 April to 5 May by the Sociological Laboratory of the Kherson Regional Branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine [CVU].  While the number of people surveyed was small, the selection was aimed at providing a representative picture which is of interest given that a mixed system – 50% according to party lists, 50% single-mandate electoral districts is to be used in the October parliamentary elections.

The survey found that Kherson residents named 44 people as Kherson City Council deputies whose activities they had heard of. They often named people who had been on the Council before the elections or MPs.  There were four names which were reasonably frequently named, but the frequency was lower than during a similar survey a year earlier.

61% of those surveyed could not name a single member of the Council.  It’s interesting to compare the results of similar surveys in different places: Donetsk and Lutsk.

In Donetsk – 98% were unable to name a single deputy while in Lutsk the figure was much lower than in Kherson as well – 28%.

77% of the Kherson people surveyed do not know who the deputy is for their electoral constituency.  CVU says that this is a slight improvement from September 2011 when a television survey found that 90% were unable to name their deputy.

93% of those surveyed in both cities were unable to name their deputy on the Regional Council.

Only 36.6% of Kherson residents and a mere 2% (!) of people in Tsyurupynsk knew of the deputies’ public reception offices.

The situation in Donetsk however is much worse with 99% of the residents of Donetsk and 95% in Avdiyivka having no idea about such public reception offices.

In Volyn 78% had not heard of them.

An absolute majority of those in the two Kherson region cities do not approach deputies to get problems dealt with.

Of those who have approached deputies, it is interesting that they tended to approach deputies from the political party they supported and not from the electoral constituency.

The percentages were small in all cases, but this trend was seen in the other regions surveyed as well.

From a report at: http://parlament.org.ua/index.php?action=news&ar_id=2613&as=0