Legal aspects of formation and development of electoral systems in Ukraine

Abstract

Introduction. The history of the Ukrainian Parliament functioning counts many electoral systems. The constant change of one kind or another was supposed to eliminate the shortcomings that were revealed during the preparation and carrying out the last elections. For a long time elections were holding under a mixed electoral system, but the combination of proportional and majoritarian components in it did not allow to provide the real expression of the citizens’ will and the effective parliament functioning. Therefore the legislator has been tasked with introducing a more optimal voting model. The result in this area was the adoption the Electoral Code of Ukraine in 2019. The purpose of the paper is to identify the main disadvantages of a mixed electoral system. to carry out the comparative analysis of the activity of deputies, which elected by different components of the mixed electoral system, to investigate the key points of the Electoral Code of Ukraine that will form the basis of legal regulation of the preparation and holding the elections to the Ukrainian Parliament and to compare them with the previous electoral system features. Results. Despite the combination of proportional and majoritarian electoral systems, theirinherent negative features remained relevant. We are talking about the lack of opportunity to select specific candidates from the electoral lists of parties, whose votes were not supported by another candidate in the single-member district etc. At the same time there was a pronounced preference for the proportional system over the majority one, because thanks to the popularity of the political party candidates could obtain a mandate without “special” effort. It is determined, that the points of the new Electoral Code of Ukraine provide the introduction of a new electoral system that will allow citizens to independently determine the priority of a candidate on the list during the distribution of mandates. At the same time the analysis of the Electoral Code shows that in some cases it will still be possible to keep "closed" lists. Conclusion. The Electoral Code of Ukraine, approved by the People's Deputies, is another testimony to the prudence of their political will and readiness to take into account the demands of society. During the analysis of the codified act it was found out that it will promote the political will of the citizens in the elections and ensure the efficiency of the deputies themselves.