Ukraine parliament approves first reading of new election law

Ukraine’s parliament voted by a bare majority, or 226
votes, on Nov. 7 to approve the first reading of an election law that
eliminates single-mandate districts and establishes open-list, proportional voting
for all seats in parliament and local councils. It would also create 27
election districts, largely based on the current existing regions. The measure,
endorsed by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, was supported by a
majority of MPs of five of the six parliamentary factions. It lacked support
from the Poroshenko Bloc, as well as single-mandate MPs, all of whom stand to
lose the most from the legislation.

Afterwards, MP Mustafa Nayyem claimed on Facebook the
vote was the result of pressure placed on parliament by the tent city protest,
which reached its third week yesterday. Presidential Administration spokesman
Viktor Ukolov warned that creating election districts based on current regions
raises the risk of MPs of regions voting for common interests that could lead
to federalization, which is one of the ways the Russian government is seeking
to dismember Ukraine.

Zenon Zawada: The only
surprise came when a majority of People’s Front MPs supported this measure. The
party has no chance to get re-elected to parliament in the 2019 elections and
we expect it will reach the decision at its Nov. 11 congress to merge with the
Solidarity Poroshenko Bloc.

Despite official statements from the Presidential
Administration that it supports open-list, proportional voting, we expect it
will work behind the scenes to undermine any such legislation, particularly in
the vote for the second reading of this particular bill. If the People’s Front
approves the merger by then, we expect that not voting for the measure likely
become a de facto condition demanded by the Poroshenko Bloc.