Central Election Commission proposes improving the presidential election law

The Central Election Commission has proposed to the Verkhovna Rada to amend the Law "On the Specifics of Applying the Law of Ukraine 'On Elections of the President of Ukraine' during the repeat voting on December 26, 2004." In particular, the CEC believes that territorial election commissions need to be created earlier; moreover, the procedure for printing ballots should be simplified. The commission adopted such a decision today, reports UNIAN.

According to Deputy Head of the CEC Maryna Stavniychuk, the Verkhovna Rada, when adopting the law on re-voting, sought to make falsifications impossible; however, some provisions of the law require immediate improvement. In particular, the CEC believes that territorial election commissions should be created earlier so that they have time to prepare for the re-voting. According to Stavniychuk, the CEC proposed creating territorial election commissions 2 days earlier than the deadlines defined in the adopted law.

It is proposed to simplify the procedure for voting outside the premises of polling stations. It is also proposed not to provide copies of protocols on voting results for control to authorized persons.

The CEC also believes that the procedure for producing election ballots should be somewhat simplified. In particular, the commission proposed removing from the law the name of the enterprise that prints the ballots. This is due to the fact that in the time remaining before the election, one enterprise will not be able to print the required number of ballots.

It is also proposed to clarify the work on determining the quorum of a territorial election commission. The law stipulates that on the day of voting the quorum of a territorial election commission must be no less than half of its composition. The CEC proposed that such a norm be valid throughout the entire period of the commission's work.

The CEC also proposed strengthening control over the delivery of election documentation from territorial election commissions to the CEC.

At the same time, representative of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko in the CEC, Yuriy Klyuchkovskyi, believes that in such a short time the Rada will not be able to adopt amendments to this law, and the president will not be able to sign it. According to Klyuchkovskyi, he does not agree with the provision that stipulates simplified procedures for voting outside polling stations. Yushchenko's representative emphasized that voting outside polling stations creates a basis for abuses.