CHESNO: Show us you have nothing to hide!

The civic movement CHESNO has called on political parties to agree to public scrutiny of their candidates.

In a campaign entitled “Filter the Verkhovna Rada”, over 500 NGOs who form part of the CHESNO movement are urging Ukraine’s leading political forces to consult with them in formulating future party candidate lists and putting forward candidates in single-mandate constituencies.

In the course of consultations CHESNO plans to acquaint members of the political parties with the aims, objectives and methodology behind the civic scrutiny.  This should result in the formation of effective mechanisms which will help voters to have impact on the formation of political proposals, while political forces will be able to avoid including corrupt or fraudulent candidates on their lists

CHESNO is asking in the first instance for a public commitment from the political forces to apply civic criteria when deciding which candidates to put forward for single-mandate constituencies and on the party candidate lists.  

Given total lack of public trust, CHESNO points out that it is politicians who have the greatest interest in demonstratng openness and therefore in establishing constructive dialogue with civic society. This will promote optimum transparency in forming the next parliament.

CHESNO invites Ukraine’s political parties to adopt 6 fundamental principles:

They want to ascertain whether deputies and candidates for such posts comply with 6 core democratic values:

No infringements of human rights and civil liberties;

Unwavering political position corresponding to the will of the voters;

No involvement in corrupt activities;

Transparency of declared income and property and their correspondence to the person’s lifestyle;

Personal voting in parliament;

Participation in parliamentary sessions and the work of parliamentary committees.

Political parties should agree to a public audit of their candidates!

It should be noted that a nationwide survey carried out by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation showed that between 70 and 80% of Ukrainians support these requirements from politicians.

Of interest also must be the results of the Razumkov Centre’s survey which found that a majority of Ukrainians would not vote for candidates they know to be implicated in corrupt dealings.