Parliament approves first new elections law since 2012

Ukraine’s parliament voted on Dec. 19 to support
overwhelmingly a new elections law that establishes exclusively open-list party
voting for parliament as of Jan. 1. The measure drew 330 votes, with the
support of all five parliamentary factions. The law replaces the current
system, in place since 2012, in which half the seats are determined by
closed-list voting for parties (in which a voter selects just the party and not
any individual candidate), and the other half are determined by single-mandate
districts. The elections code was approved in the second reading in July,
vetoed by President Zelensky in September, and then rewritten in parliamentary
committee. Other key changes include a 25% vote quota per qualifying candidate
and the distribution of mandates based on the voter turnout per district.

Zenon Zawada: These
changes to the elections law are among the biggest accomplishments of the
Zelensky administration and The People’s Servant party. The prior system
enabled the president to cobble together votes for unpopular measures by
avoiding the MPs elected by parties and reaching deals – often quite shady –
with the single-mandate MPs in exchange for their votes. Often, legislation
that didn’t conform to Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration goals was approved
in this fashion.