PACE representatives warn against simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections

PACE representatives believe Ukraine should not hold presidential and parliamentary elections together. This was the message at a press conference on Tuesday from Renata Wohlwend, Co-Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

“Holding two elections without the proper laws prepared beforehand is impossible. We would furthermore warn Ukraine against this”, she said.

Ms Wohlwend says that PACE sees no legal grounds for holding these elections on one day since they could lead to more chaos, then positive results.

She stated that although it was conceivable that parliamentary elections could take place earlier, this would require work on laws, in particular, electoral legislation. She thought it unlikely that a unified law would be passed before the summer. She added that such work by the legislators should be carried out consciously, and without any pressure.

In response to one question regarding parliamentary elections, Ms Wohlwend said: “We consider that the future elections should be based on open electoral constituencies, open candidate lists and a more open electoral process”. Ukraine needs to make information about the financing of the electoral process much more transparent both by the State and the political forces involved.  She added that PACE would like to see the relevant legislation regulating the financing of the elections.

From information at http://human-rights.unian.net/ukr/detail/190348