Parliamentarians also dubious about the law on the Presidential Elections

A group of 45 National Deputies (the minimum possible) have sent a submission to the Constitutional Court asking that the recent amendments to some legislative acts on the Presidential Elections be checked for their constitutionality.

According to one National Deputy involved, Genady Zadyrko, the new norms restrict the rights of Ukrainian nationals who are abroad. He says that not all will be able to exercise their electoral rights, only those who are on the consulate register.

Volodymyr Kapliyenko says that the National Deputies who signed the submission are against the abolition of absentee voting papers, the system of forming electoral commissions (on the principle of residency in the relevant area), the unwarranted increase in the bond which candidates have to pay, and the virtual impossibility of getting the money back after the elections.

They also have doubts about the norm prohibiting the submission of complaints on voting day and after voting day to the Central Election Committee and their consideration by the latter.

They also assert that some norms cancel the right to court defence of voters’ rights and freedoms, as well as those of political parties and candidates.

As reported, on 15 September President Yushchenko made a submission to the Constitutional Court over the same law.

On 17 September the Head of the Constitutional Court Andriy Stryzhak criticized National Deputies for passing the law on the eve of the start of the election campaign. He says that the deputies six months before the elections pass a new law, and it ends up being the Constitutional Court which is blamed because it cannot reach a judgment on the law swiftly. He says that if the new law is declared unconstitutional, this will not disrupt the electoral process. In that case the old law will come into force.

From information at www.unian.net