The principled position of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy is that the elections should be held with open lists. It was stated by Advisor to the President of Ukraine - Representative of the President in the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk.
"This is a European practice, which enables citizens electing a future parliament to get a clearer and more detailed look at the people in the parties. And to give credibility to those who, in their opinion, will be able to represent them in the legislative body most adequately," Ruslan Stefanchuk said.
It bears recalling that this position of the Head of State is reflected in his election program. And during the inaugural speech, Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the Verkhovna Rada to adopt the Electoral Code, which provides for the open lists procedure.
At the same time, according to Ruslan Stefanchuk, during the consultations with the President of Ukraine on May 21, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, his deputies and leaders of factions and groups stressed that there was currently no possibility to promptly and qualitatively approve open ballot lists. Therefore, the participants of the meeting agreed on a compromise - approval of amendments to the current law on election of the people's deputies abolishing the majority system and reducing the electoral threshold to 3%.
"Undoubtedly, this is not our goal, our dream, but it is less evil than the current majority system, when people buy votes for buckwheat, actively reselling them after - during the voting," the Advisor to the Head of State emphasized.
The results of the consultations were reflected in the relevant draft law submitted to the Verkhovna Rada. However, the MPs ignored the previous agreements and failed the voting, arguing that they allegedly wanted open lists.
"The matters on which there was a consensus on their inclusion in the agenda on the eve, haven’t been endorsed by people's deputies," the Representative of the President in the Verkhovna Rada noted.
He also expressed hope that the parties would give citizens an opportunity to get acquainted with their lists and influence the choice of candidates for a deputy's seat insofar as the current legislation allows.