You're reading: Communists want no president, call for federation

Communist Party of Ukraine proposes abolishing the presidency in Ukraine and creating a federal system in the Constitution, the Communist Party stated in the parliamentary newspaper Holos Ukrayiny.

 In particular, it proposed to formulate the second part of Article 2 of the Constitution as follows: “Ukraine is a federal state composed of regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.”

The order of the transition to the federal structure of the state should be defined in transitional provisions.

The CPU explains the abolition of the presidencyas follows: “for more than 20 years, he not only made no contribution to the consolidation of Ukrainian society, but was often a source of instability and provoking the fight for power.”

Regarding the organization of the government , the Communist Party suggests that, “at this stage, the parliamentary system should be developed to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of one person or group of persons and to ensure the accountability of all state structures to the people,” stated the proposal.

According to the document of the Communist Party, Parliament will consist of two chambers – the Chamber of Deputies and of the Council of Regions.

It states that the Chamber of Deputies will consist of 350 persons, elected by proportional representation with open lists, and the Council of Regions will include three members from each region.

Regional administrations in regions will be eliminated due to the refusal of the presidency and executive power in oblasts, districts, cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol shall be handled by executive committees of the respective councils .

The Russian language would become the state language, the Constitutional Court is transferred from Kyiv to Kharkiv, and the people’s will is proposed to expand by means of poll (plebiscite).

Among other proposals – consolidating the Constitutional status of Ukraineas a permanently neutral state, the possibility of dual citizenship on the basis of international agreements, the ban on the sale of agricultural lands.

As for justice, it is supposed to fix the status of the Supreme Court of Ukraine as the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction, establish the election of people’s judges and institute people’s assessors.

Earlier, a deputy of Party of Regions Vadym Kolesnichenko said that Ukraine should become a federation to relieve the tension between its parts. According to him, the principle of co-existence of parts in a potential federation – “Let us live peacefully. We will not touch you, you will not touch us. Reside in one country, borders , common area”.

The original text is on Ukrainska Pravda at:

http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/1/7012321/