Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has proposed holding presidential and parliamentary elections within one year in an attempt to avoid apathy..
Parliamentary elections should be held based on mixed or fully majoritarian principles, Yanukovych said in Paris on Friday.
"Elections are being held all the time, and people are sick and tired of all this. That is why I would like to adopt a more orderly system envisioning that both elections to the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) and presidential elections take place within one year. But they must be separated in time, possibly by six months. First, presidential elections, then elections to the Verkhovna Rada," the Ukrainian president said.
However, dates for local elections "are not very important" to the country’s political life, he said.
Commenting on the existing principles behind parliamentary elections in Ukraine, Yanukovych said that the proportional system has created a gap between MPs and voters.
"We sense that this system is harmful and it fails to meet our voters’ demands," the president said.
"In my opinion, it is necessary to return to at least a mixed system and then possibly to a fully majoritarian system," he said. This initiative will be debated, but it is absolutely necessary to change the principles regulating parliamentary elections in Ukraine today, Yanukovych said
