You're reading: Law: All parties registered in Ukraine will be able to participate in local elections

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has approved Regions Party leader Oleksandr Yefremov's amendments to the law on the election of deputies to the Crimean Supreme Council, local councils and the election of the heads of villages, towns, and cities.

A total of 264 lawmakers voted for the adoption of a bill of amendments to the law at an extraordinary session of parliament on Monday.

The law, in particular, extends the opportunity to participate in local elections to all parties, not only those registered more than a year before the elections.

Similar bills submitted by lawmakers Lev Biriuk (the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko) and Arseniy Yatsenyuk (Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense) were earlier put to the vote. Their proposals failed to collect the necessary number of votes to pass – garnering only 145 and 153 respectively.