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Ukrainian lawmakers in Parliament are poised to make controversial changes to electoral law. The opposition is putting up a fight, though, contending that this will make the political scene less democratic. Our correspondents in Kiev bring us the details.
A year before elections to parliament, a group of Ukrainian MP's are pushing for change to the electoral law.
They want elections on a mixed proportional-majority system, and not by party, like now. But the opposition says no to such innovation.
[Nataliya Korolevskaya, MP, Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko]:
"You have to stop thinking about the majority system as an opportunity for a Member of Parliament to communicate with voters. The majority system represents the ability for those in power to reassign themselves. In this case instead of the will of the people, the Electoral Commission will carry out the will of those in power and appoint Members of Parliament."
The governing party - the Party of Regions - believes the new law will make elections more democratic.
[Maxim Lutsky, Member of Parliament, Party of Regions]:
"The reason the opposition is against elections based on a majority system is because then the number of places on the lists would be cut in half."
At the same time, the opposition insists on opening the electoral lists, because under the current system, voters vote for the party, not knowing the names of the candidates.
[Victor Matchuk, Member of Parliament Our Ukraine Party]:
"Opening the electoral lists would allow people to choose a particular member of Parliament according to his political support. It will also reduce the dependence of the candidate on his party's leader."
The bill would also increase entry barriers to parliament for political parties from the current 3% of the popular vote to 4%...
