Concept and types of terms in procedures for resolving election disputes

Abstract

In the article, the author established the nature and types of terms for resolving electoral disputes. It is concluded that it is advisable to establish the essence of the term as a legal category; it is used in the consideration and resolution of administrative disputes, including election disputes. It is substantiated that the term must be understood as a certain time period, determined by the calendar date or event, with the onset of which the person arises or terminates the right to act in a certain way. The terms in consideration and resolution of electoral cases are classified according to a number of criteria - the method of protecting violated suffrage; time of application of the right to appeal a management decision; stages of the election process; time criterion for their calculation; conditions of their occurrence; their substantive nature; opportunities for their recovery. Given the nature of the time limit for applying to the court as a variety of terms in the consideration and resolution of electoral disputes, it was concluded that it would be appropriate to classify them as defined by the substantive rules of administrative law. Attention is drawn to the fact that maintaining the norm on defining the terms of appeal to the administrative court as a guarantee of the protection of electoral rights in the structure of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine is a compulsory measure of legal regulation, they should be eliminated as part of law-making activities to develop and adopt the Electoral Code of Ukraine. It is emphasized that classifying the term of appeal to the administrative court as a guarantee of ensuring the implementation of suffrage to the category of material terms allows us to conclude that it should be understood as a limitation period. It is noted that it becomes especially relevant to solve the problem of legislatively determining the length of time for appeal to an administrative court as a category of material terms, and accordingly to solve the question of whether it is reasonable to apply the category of “reasonableness” to the determination of their duration, used in the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine to determine the period during which a court must consider the matter or carry out other procedural actions