SOME ASPECTS OF HOLDING LOCAL ELECTIONS IN UKRAINE: PROBLEMS AND WAYS OF SOLVING THEM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34132/pard2019.05.10Keywords:
elections, local elections, election principles, electoral systems, deputyAbstract
The article is analyzes some legal and practical aspects of holding local elections in Ukraine, identifies existing problems in the electoral process and suggests ways to solve them. At the beginning of the study, is outlines the concept of «elections» and «local elections». Different views of scientists on the interpretation of these two concepts are given. The main part of the article is devoted to characterizing the principles on which local elections in our country are based. Such principles are: universal suffrage, equal suffrage, direct suffrage, freedom of election, secrecy of voting, personal voting. The study found that full implementation of each of these principles is currently impossible due to the imperfection of the current electoral legislation, the presence of military conflict in eastern Ukraine and annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, low level of legal consciousness and education of some citizens. Generalized, that the legislative consolidation of the fundamental principles of the electoral process and their strict adherence are: 1) an integral part of Ukraine's socio-political life; 2) one of the signs of the effectiveness of democracy in Ukraine; 3) a guarantee of the legitimacy of the one elected by the majority and of public tranquility and confidence in the effectiveness of their own actions (votes). The electoral systems existing in Ukraine are characterized. It is substantiated, that the first two electoral systems are easy to use and ultimately vote for candidates and understandable to the public, whom elect their representatives. It is revealed that the existing modified version of the third electoral system (proportional) destroys the basic principles of representative democracy, generates specific competition both between different political parties and in the middle of each of them. At the end of the article, it was concluded that local elections are a crucial manifestation of democracy in Ukraine, when public administration is carried out not only by members of parliament and local councils or civil servants of different categories, but directly by every citizen, coming to the polls and making their own conscious choices.
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