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Election Commission fails to decide on start of parliamentary election campaign (VIDEO)

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Nov. 22, 2010, 6:04 p.m. | Politics — by Interfax-Ukraine

The Central Election Commission building
© AFP

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The Central Election Commission has failed to take a decision on the announcement of the start of the campaign for the Ukrainian parliamentary elections, which had been scheduled for March 27, 2011. The decision on the announcement of the election campaign at a CEC meeting on Monday was supported by only four out of eleven members of the Central Election Commission, while seven abstained. In particular, Oleksandr Mahera, Zhanna Usenko-Chorna, Valeriy Sheludchenko and Ihor Zhydenko voted "for".

A draft resolution on the announcement of the start of the election campaign was submitted by CEC Chairman Andriy Mahera.

Mahera noted that the CEC did everything possible to receive an official interpretation regarding the date of the next parliamentary elections, by having sent a relevant motion to the Constitutional Court a month ago.

"There has still been no response," Mahera said.

CEC member Mykhailo Okhendovsky, in turn, noted that according to the constitution, the term of office of the Verkhovna Rada finishes in 2012, and the Central Election Commission is to announce the start of the election campaign approximately on June 25, 2012.

As reported, the Constitutional Court issued a positive conclusion on a draft law on amending the constitution under which the next parliamentary election is to be held in October 2012 and the presidential election in March 2015.

The draft law envisages that the president of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada, the Supreme Council of Crimea, deputies of local councils of all levels, and village, town, city heads are elected for five years.

According to the established procedure, in order to amend the constitution the amendments approved by the Constitutional Court are to be supported by at least 226 MPs at one session and by 300 at the next session. Thus, these amendments can become effective no earlier than February 2011. Based on the current legislation, the next parliamentary elections should take place on March 27, 2011, and the Central Election Commission should declare the start of the election campaign no later than November 22.

The Constitutional Court on Oct. 1 declared unconstitutional law No. 2222-IV of Dec. 8, 2004 amending the Constitution of Ukraine (the political reform of 2004) due to the violation of the procedure for its consideration and adoption. According to the constitution of 1996, the parliament is elected for four years, not five years as was determined by the political reform of 2004.

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