Most Ukrainians see their parliament representatives only once in four years -- during the election campaign. But soon after getting elected, many deputies forget about accountability.
Only nearly
22 percent of people said they knew where the public offices of their lawmakers
are located, according to the recent poll by Democratic Initiatives Foundation
and Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
Even though each lawmaker receives a minimum Hr
17,000 ($2,125) from state budget per month for organizing communication with
his voters, only 23 out of 450 deputies reported how they spent this money,
Chesno (Honestly) civil movement, a political watchdog, said.
The
lawmakers said they mostly spent this money for setting up offices, financial
help to their voters, cultural programs and also for churches.
None of the
five parliamentary factions’ leaders reported how they spent money for their
parliamentary activity, Chesno movement highlighted.
In
additions, members of the Rada also tend to be secretive about their past.
Only a bit
more than a half of the parliament members published their official
biographies, the research by Chesno revealed.
The most
transparent was the faction of Vitali Klitschko’s Ukrainian Democratic Alliance
for Reform (UDAR) party, as all of its members revealed details of their biographies.
The most secretive was Communist Party, with only 16 percent of biographies
published.
In most
cases (104) the lawmakers showed their biographies by official requests of
Chesno movement. Only 96 lawmakers revealed this information on their official
websites.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be
reached at [email protected]
