Ukraine’s parliament may present draft law on elections and referendum by late February
Photo: Leader of the Servant of the People faction in the parliament, MP David Arakhamia (facebook.com)
The draft law on holding elections and a referendum may be presented by the end of February. However, the elections themselves, as well as the referendum, are planned to take place no later than 90 days after the ceasefire — and they are also expected to be combined, this was announced by the leader of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada (the parliament), MP David Arakhamia, and the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, at a briefing on January 3.
Arakhamia noted that the draft law could be presented as early as the end of February. Considering the pace of discussion and development, if nothing is accelerated, it will take some time.
"Our internal deadline is to finish by the end of February. That is, we have a draft that we can register and vote on," he explained.
For his part, Parliament Speaker Stefanchuk added that the presidential elections and the referendum in Ukraine must include a security component. The minimum preparation time for such events is 60 days, and there are numerous challenges.
"The minimum time needed to prepare the elections is 60 days. Why not create an online tool for holding elections? For example, there are 6.5 million IDPs, but only one million are in the registry — where are the rest? At which polling stations will they vote?" the speaker said.
Why are the two votes are being combined
Arakhamia also said there is an idea to combine the presidential elections with a nationwide referendum on the peace plan. The problem is that Ukraine has no modern experience in organizing referendums of this type.
The last referendum in Ukraine was in 1991, concerning independence and the country’s exit from the USSR. That referendum was conducted differently than what is possible today — technical capabilities have changed significantly. There are also other challenges and nuances.
"We have no modern experience — organizationally, politically, or economically. Honestly, we are not really ready for this right now," he concluded.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that the US 20-point peace plan needs to be confirmed through a referendum. Kyiv and Washington have not yet fully agreed on some disputed issues, so it is expected that the final decision will be made by the Ukrainian people. According to Zelenskyy, at least a 60-day ceasefire is necessary for holding the referendum.
Zelenskyy also stressed that a referendum on the US peace plan would be disadvantageous for Russia. In that case, Moscow would not be able to claim the decision is "illegitimate," as the Kremlin constantly tries to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Ukrainian government.
