Only 3 out of 450 MPs meet 5 core democratic criteria

In the current parliament only three MPs met the criteria posed in 6 core democratic values according to a study carried out by the civic movement CHESNO together with the Committee of Voters of Ukraine.  These values are:

1. No infringements of human rights and civil liberties;

61% - important; 22% - not important

2. Unwavering political position corresponding to the will of the voters;

Importance varied across party lines, with 80% of BYUT supporters finding it important (17% not very important or not at all)  but supporters of the ruling Party of the Regions – 60% saying it was important; 35% - not very important or not important at all

3. No involvement in corrupt activities;

80% - important; 13% - not important

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

74%  important; 18% - not important

5. Personal voting in parliament;

66% - important; 22% - not important

6. Participation in parliamentary sessions and the work of parliamentary committees.

72%  important; 16% - not important

 The percentages are for the number of Ukrainians who said that the category was important, or not important, respectively.  The survey was carried out by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation and Ukrainian Sociology Service in December 2011)

The three MPs who “passed the test” are Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, MP from Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defence, Volodymyr Panovoy as well as Oleksandr Hudyma from BYUT.

17 MPs only failed in one category, that regarding voting for themselves (as in, not failing to attend the parliamentary session and allowing colleagues to “vote for you”).

89 MPs were guilty of rights infringements;

198  - involved in corrupt actions;

382 – incomplete or untruthful information about income;

419 – casting votes using other MPs’ cards.

CHESNO found 234 persistent “truants” and 48 MPs who move from one faction to another.

According to the Head of the Democratic Initiatives Foundation Iryna Bekeshkin, the rate of trust towards the current parliament is the lowest in all the years since Independence. For the first time, using a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best) the current MPs were give a 2 or D grade.