UKRAINE: PRESIDENT SIGNS TWO OF THREE AMENDMENTS

UNCLAS KIEV 001084

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM UP OSCE
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: PRESIDENT SIGNS TWO OF THREE AMENDMENTS
TO ELECTION LAW


(U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for Internet
distribution. Please handle accordingly.


1. (SBU) Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko signed into
law March 17 two of the three bills passed by the Rada March
14, amending parliamentary and local election laws (reftel).
The bills Yushchenko signed (now known as law No. 3519-IV)
included provisions allowing District Election Commissions
(DECs) to recruit more staff members to operate polling
station commissions (PSCs),allows PSC commissioners to vote
at the polling station they are working at, and calls on the
CEC to increase voter education efforts and to encourage
voters to check their names on the voter list. The law also
amended the State Budget of Ukraine to increase funding for
the election by 137 million UAH ($27 million),primarily to
increase PSC workers' salaries.


2. (SBU) Yushchenko did not sign, and is not expected to
sign, the third bill passed by the Rada on March 14, amending
the parliamentary election law to allow citizens to be added
to the voter list by court order on election day. The
current cut-off for inclusion on the voter list by court
order is three days before election day.


3. (SBU) Note: As reported reftel, Yushchenko and Our
Ukraine bloc representatives argued that allowing this
provision to become law would create possibilities for abuse
by courts in cahoots with local authorities -- whatever the
party affiliation. Plus, they added, the Rada decision was
made contrary to procedure. Opposition representatives
argued that inoperational PSCs made the provision necessary,
if voters were to be able to get their names added to or
fixed on inaccurate voter lists. As of March 20, according
to the Central Election Commission, 96 out of some 33,000
PSCs still had not been formed, 86 of them in one Kirovohrad
oblast electoral district.


4. (U) Visit Embassy Kiev's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
Herbst