Committee of Voters calls new electoral norm undemocratic

The Committee of Voters of Ukraine has supported the President’s submission to the Constitutional Court to have the amendments to the Law on the Election of National Deputies reviewed. According to the changes, voters who have gone abroad and do not return within three days of the elections are taken off the voter register.

CVU spokesperson Oleksandr Chervonenko considers the changes to be undemocratic. He believes the norm on removing people’s names from the list if they haven’t returned within three days of the voting to restrict people’s rights. In his words, “This norm is undemocratic, violates the electoral rights of people who will return to the country on election day and find that they’re not on the list”.

For this reason the CVU has supported the President’s submission asking for the Constitutional Court  to judge on the constitutionality of the norms.  The submission suggests that removing voters from the lists is a direct restriction of their constitutional rights and contravenes Articles 38, 64, 70 and 71 of the Constitution.

These amendments were introduced to fight vote-rigging with relatives being allowed to cast votes for labour migrants. However most of these left Ukraine before the register on the border carried out by the State Border Service began, and they will therefore not be affected by the new norms, and their relatives will be able to use the absent person’s passport to vote in their name.

On the other hand, people who returned from a business trip or holiday could, Oleksandr Chervonenko states, be prevented from voting.