President Viktor Yanukovych wants parliament on Aug. 30 to cancel a norm of the local election law, which deprives political parties of the right to nominate candidates to local councils in areas where their respective local branches registered 365 days ahead of local elections.
Yanukovych said he is proposing changing to the law to include the provision after local elections scheduled for October 31, 2010.
"I have made a decision for myself – to cancel this norm of the law and reinstate it right after the local elections," Yanukovych told German media on Aug. 28.
Opposition leaders, meanwhile, have also criticized new provisions in the election law, which:
- only allows political parties represented in parliament to form territorial election commissions (TEC)
- allows the Central Election Commission to annul TEC results and establish the election results
- allows TECs to approve election results based on a majority vote of TEC members
Parliament is scheduled to consider Yanukovych’s proposals and other changes to the law at an extraordinary plenary session on August 30.
German-language excerpts from Yanukovych’s interview with Deutsche Welle are availabe here.
