President of Ukraine

As regards presidential initiative to poll society on October 25

13 October 2020 - 12:33

One of the unpleasant and obviously undemocratic features of political life in Ukraine for several decades has been the separation of the content of politics from the expectations of the citizens of our state. The state is separate, society is separate. A really narrow circle of so-called professional politicians was engaged in the exclusive development of both questions of strategic importance for Ukraine and answers to them. In this we see the key risks for our future - the state could not and did not always want to hear its citizens and understand the basic needs of society.

The intention to provide greater opportunities for society to decide how to develop the state was among the key priorities of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in 2019 and aimed at significantly reformatting the principles of our political system. That is, to open the door to true democracy in Ukraine. When society independently formulates its basic expectations and receives direct tools to implement these expectations in everyday life. That is why the parliament is working on a package of laws on democracy, and a key one - on the all-Ukrainian referendum - is already on the way to adoption by people’s deputies.

However not only referendums can be used as a tool of direct influence of citizens on the content of public policy. Polls are another tool. Each tool has its own meaning and legal significance. The nationwide poll proposed by the President will give every citizen an opportunity to express what is really important for our society, so that public opinion can be attested at the state level without correction by various biased "experts" and politicians with more than 20 years of experience in manipulating people's expectations. That is, the state asks direct questions to society and receives direct answers without intermediaries. This is how true democracy works.

We emphasize that the poll proposed to be held on October 25, unlike the referendum, as defined for the referendum by the Constitution, will not have direct legal consequences. The need for this form of direct democracy is due to the fact that the content of politics in the state should be determined by the people, not only those who have enough media influence and money to manipulate the impression of public opinion in their personal interests. On October 25, we will learn what people really think. And also we will ask the questions that nobody ever wanted to ask the fellow citizens in our country directly.