The Verkhovna Rada has adopted a package of amendments to the law on presidential election, excluding a requirement that there be a quorum for election commissions.
A total of 233 of 243 MPs registered in the session hall supported this decision at the parliament’s special meeting on Wednesday.
In particular, 172 MPs of the Regions Party, one member of the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko, 29 of the Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense bloc, 27 of the Communist Party of Ukraine, and four deputies not belonging to any faction voted to pass the bill on amendments to the law on presidential election. Members of the faction of the Bloc of Lytvyn were absent from the session hall.
The adopted amendments proposed by First Vice-Speaker Oleksandr Lavrynovych of the Regions Party canceled the requirement of a quorum of two thirds of the members of territorial and district election commissions.
In addition, the adopted bill introduced a provision that a member of an election commission can be dismissed only if he is simultaneously replaced by another member proposed by a local council and appointed by a commission of higher level (the previous provision proposed replacing the dismissed member with another nominee from the same presidential candidate).
In addition, one of the reasons for the dismissal of a member of a district or territorial election commission (Article 30 of the election law) is " failure to appear at the meeting of the election commission on the day of voting."
Article 85 of the law on the presidential election is supplemented with a clause saying that if a candidate for Ukraine’s president fails to submit a specified number of his nominees as members in a district election commission on time, the CEC will form this district commission of 14 people (seven representatives from each of the candidates), who will be proposed by the chairman of the regional council.
If a presidential candidate fails to submit his nominees for members of territorial election commissions on time, a relevant district election commission will form the territorial commission of 16 people (eight representatives from each candidate) proposed by the chairman of the local council.
The election commissions will be formed likewise if the number of nominees submitted by the candidates is less than that required by the law.
