Urgent opinion of Venice Commission on Ukrainian referendum bill

The European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) has released its urgent opinion on the draft law on democracy through all-Ukrainian referendum.

The document, which is published on the website of the Council of Europe, will be recommended for approval at the 124th plenary meeting of the Venice Commission on October 8-9, 2020.

The document notes that it is recommended to clarify the relation between popular initiatives referendum of abrogation of laws or part of laws and a referendum on resolving issues of national importance.

Also, according to the recommendations, the procedure for holding a popular initiative referendum should provide parliament with a role before the vote, as well as, if necessary, after the vote; the consequences of the approval of the popular initiative should be defined in law.

The Council of Europe Commission for Democracy draws attention to the need to introduce additional provisions in the draft law aimed at ensuring equal opportunities for the supporters and the opponents of issues submitted to the referendum on referendum commissions. It is also recommended to extend deadline for collecting signatures for popular initiative referendums, with recommendations to check all the signatures.

“It is recommended to harmonize the draft law with the electoral legislation to further strengthen mechanisms of accessibility of referendums for persons with disabilities, and to create mechanisms that will practically facilitate the effective and meaningful implementation of IDP’s electoral rights,” the Venice Commission said.

The Commission also recommends that consideration should be given to the possibility of synchronizing the provisions of the draft law on financing of referendum campaign with the legislation on financing of political parties.

In turn, experts recommend to exclude the provision on electronic voting from the draft law and regulating them later in a separate law on local, parliamentary and presidential elections, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

In addition, the Venice Commission advises to review the restrictions and prohibitions on campaigning and notes that the bill should contain “specific articles for preventive and effective sanctions for media-related violations.”