Civil Assembly of Ukraine demands to change the rules of political game before the elections of the President of Ukraine

November 24, 2009, a press conference of the Civil Assembly of Ukraine took place at UNIAN information agency. The event was devoted to urgent adoption of legislative changes, without which the presidential election campaign will not only leave the existing political problems unresolved, but will also, on the contrary, deepen the crisis in the society and the state.

The press conference presented a prepared package of legislative changes, which would later be sent to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine, with a demand to consider them urgently.

Bills that comprise the package are based on the decisions of the 3 rd Civil Assembly of Ukraine and they are to provide to the following:

• Transparency of activity of bodies of authority and ensuring of effective public control over them, in particular, by mechanisms of open informing of the citizens about the system of preparation and approval of government decisions, expending of state funds, expenses of politicians and civil servants;
• Transparency and detailed proper arrangement of activity of political parties, in particular, regarding issues of financing, forming of ruling bodies and nomination of candidates;
• Institutionalization of the Constitutional Assembly as a body for implementation of the right of citizens for constitutive power;
• Possibility for effective and fast renewal of the political elite by adoption of changes regarding consequences of votes “against all” (“do not support any candidate”).

This project is developed by a working group of experts of the Civil Assembly of Ukraine (CAU), in order to fulfill the decisions of the 3 rd Civil Assembly of Ukraine.

The basis for reforming of the system of power in Ukraine and for decreasing of corruption in the bodies of authority is to be provided by implementation of these very norms, stipulated in the bills, and also by approval of the changes in the electoral legislation regarding introduction of ‘open’ preferential lists of candidates in elections to the Verkhovna Rada and introduction of majority system of absolute majority in elections to local councils.

Experts of the CAU consider that changing of regulations and procedures and introduction of responsibility for their observance are more important than changing of personalities on the political scene.

“The current presidential elections as such will not resolve anything and will not change anything. The main contenders for the President’s scepter differ little from each other. And the winner, no matter who he or she will be, will inevitably experience that what happened with Viktor Yushchenko.

On the other hand, the system is programmed for impunity. No matter what a person has done, the maximum scenario is that he or she will sit through in hiding abroad. And his/her ‘sparring partners’ will take care of that. When citizens are only passive onlookers, politicians use that to the fullest extent. Politicians’ disdain for citizens and citizens’ disdain for politicians are mutual. Because in order to really change something, it is needed to change the rules.

It is needed to make politicians dependent on citizens and to free citizens from being ‘hostages’ of politicians. The voters’ right to show the door to the entire set of candidates is a step towards that direction”, noted Volodymyr Horbach, an expert of the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation.

“Currently, the system of power in Ukraine creates false motivations, which in their turn lead to a situation when politicians view power not as a mechanism for provision of rights and interests of citizens, but only as a resource for self-enrichment”, stated Anatoliy Pinchuk, Head of Working Group, President of All-Ukrainian Public Organization “Ukrainian Strategy”. “Actually, instead of democracy, kleptocracy (power of thieves) has been established in the country and the main task for today is to give the power back to the people and make it accountable and responsible before the people”, added Pinchuk.

The indicated bills were passed to all people’s deputies, the President and the Prime Minister. Depending on their attitude to these bills, public organizations will have a congruous attitude to the politicians. In case the package is ignored, the public organizations that comprise the CAU intend to organize collecting of signatures to demand that the mentioned changes are adopted by a referendum or plebiscite.

“Despite CAU’s frequent appeals to politicians with a request to stop squabbles for power authority and concentrate on issues of the state-building and public development, none of the branches of power hears us”, said Hanna Holubovska-Onisimova, Head of Ukrainian National Environmental NGO MAMA-86. “Instead, the beginning of the presidential election campaign demonstrated Ukrainian politicians’ ‘clinical disability’  to respect their own citizens and the rule of law. The new political technology – at first, to scare the Ukrainians with severe diseases and mass deaths and then ‘to save’ from imminent death – completely proved that the society needs ‘a protective device’ against politicians who have lost their conscience. We are forced to turn from the language of appeals to the language of ultimatums”, explained she.

“Changes in the Law of Ukraine “On the Elections of the President of Ukraine”, which ensure legal consequences in case the citizens do not wish to have any of the candidates as their President, are necessary for the society, in order to change the rules of the game in a democratic manner”, emphasized Hanna Holubovska-Onisimova.

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The Civil Assembly of Ukraine is an initiative launched for the purpose of elaboration and public discussion of the position of the civil society regarding the constitutional process, declaration of demands to current politicians and political forces regarding the procedure for adoption and the content of the new Constitution. The International Renaissance Foundation provides organizational and financial support to the Civil Assembly of Ukraine.

Contact person: Anastasia Grynko, Public Relations Manager of the International Renaissance Foundation, tel.: (044) 461-9709, mob:  +380503873116, e-mail: grynko@irf.kiev.ua

			Maria Lykhman, PR department tel: +380 (44) 486 24 74 | fax: +380 (44) 486 76 29 email: lykhman@irf.kiev.ua office: Kyiv, Artema Street, 46, Head Office