The Court proceeded to an in-camera part of the plenary session in the case
on the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Electoral Code of Ukraine
On May 20, the Grand Chamber of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine at the public part of the plenary session in the form of oral proceedings considered the case upon the constitutional petition of 45 People's Deputies of Ukraine, who appealed to Court in order to verify the constitutionality of Articles 133-191, paragraph 2.2 of Section ХХХХІІ “Final and Transitional Provisions” of the Electoral Code of Ukraine (hereinafter - the Code).
During the court hearing, Judge-Rapporteur in the case Volodymyr Moisyk presented the content of the constitutional petition.
The Judge-Rapporteur informed that the petitioners appealed to the CCU to verify the compliance of the provisions of the Code with the Constitution of Ukraine. In particular, regarding the constitutionality of Articles 133-191, which structurally form the Third Book "Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine" of the Code, which regulates the preparation and conduct of elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine.
According to Volodymyr Moisyk, in the constitutional petition the applicants defend the position that the disputed provisions of the Code do not comply with a number of articles of the Constitution of Ukraine.
The petitioners allege that the Code's "change of the system of elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine from a mixed (proportional-majority) system to an exclusively proportional system" violated the constitutional principle of legal certainty, which is one of the elements of the rule of law enshrined in Article 8 of the Constitution, as well as fundamental principles of law, deprived of legitimate expectations and the expected stability of electoral law.
People's Deputies of Ukraine point out that the abolition of the majority system of relative majority deprived Ukrainian citizens of the right to self-nominate in elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine - the right to "independently, based solely on their own will, to run in elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine", which limited the right of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine to freely elect and be elected.
The applicants also note that the consolidation of the exclusive right to nominate candidates for deputies of Ukraine only by political parties "contains signs of usurpation of power and its monopolization by political parties", as "only parties decide who to vote for in elections of Deputies of Ukraine" and "a citizen of Ukraine cannot independently exercise his or her constitutionally guaranteed right to be elected and, as a result, cannot freely elect…".
According to the Judge-Rapporteur, inquiries were sent to state authorities, scientific and educational institutions to express their positions on the issues raised in the constitutional petition. In particular, to the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Central Election Commission, the All-Ukrainian NGO "Committee of Voters of Ukraine", the All-Ukrainian NGO "OPORA", the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Committee on the Rule of Law of the National Bar Association of Ukraine, as well as special advisers to the CCU.
During the plenary session the Court heard explanations of the participants of the constitutional proceedings on the subject matter of constitutional control, namely: the representative of the subject of the right to constitutional petition, the People's Deputy of Ukraine Anton Yatsenko, the Permanent Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Olha Sovhyria and the Representative of the President of Ukraine to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Fedir Venislavskyi.
The involved participants of the constitutional proceedings - Minister of Justice of Ukraine Denys Maliuska, Chairman of the Central Election Commission Oleh Didenko, People's Deputy of Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Organization, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Elections, Referendums and Other Forms of Direct Democracy Alina Zahoruyko, People's Deputy of Ukraine of V, VI convocations, Head of the NGO "League of Voters" Yuliia Kovalevska, Chairman of the Board of the All-Ukrainian Public Organization "OPORA" Civic Network Olha Aivazovska, Senior Expert of IFES on Legal Issues Denys Kovryzhenko, People's Deputy of Ukraine of III, IV, V, VI Convocations, Doctor of Law Yuriy Kliuchkovskyi, Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission in 2007-2018 Andriy Magera, Chairman of the Committee on the Rule of Law of the National Bar Association of Ukraine, Expert of the Joint Project of the Council of Europe and the European Union "Promoting the Effective Functioning of Public Institutions and Public Administration" Maryna Stavniychuk, also stated their positions.
At the session, the Representative of the President of Ukraine to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Fedir Venislavskyi and the Permanent Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Olha Sovhyria filed a motion to terminate the constitutional proceedings in this case. The motion will be considered at the in-camera part of the plenary session.
Having examined the case file at the public part of the plenary session, the Court proceeded to the in-camera part for a decision.
The public part of the plenary session is available on the official website of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine under the heading "Archive of video broadcasts of sittings".
