Local elections in the European Union and Ukraine: comparative characteristics

Abstract

The article provides a comparative analysis of the electoral legislation of the EU countries and Ukraine at the local level and on the basis of this analysis, the proposals to improve the electoral legislation of Ukraine take into account the experience of the European Union.
 The main forms of direct democracy in most EU member countries and Ukraine are fixed at the constitutional level, and the procedure of preparing and holding elections is regulated by special election laws. Domestic electoral legislation is overloaded with detailed norms of procedural aspects, unlike the legislation of EU countries, in which much more attention is paid to the issues of transparency of party financial funds and transparency of election campaign financing, as well as protection of national minorities’ interests.
 The main ways of exercising the right to vote not at the place of inclusion in the voter lists in the EU member states were characterized: voting by absentee ballots at specially designated polling stations, voting on the territory of diplomatic and consular missions, voting by mail, proxy voting, mobile voting, voting via the Internet, distance voting. It is noted that the norms in which the institution of a cash deposit is enshrined are discriminatory since they violate the principle of equality of suffrage and create a situation in which candidates are excluded from the political arena on the basis of the property criterion.
 Relevant for EU countries is the adoption of measures to create appropriate conditions for the full implementation of the principle of equality of citizens before the law, in particular, to overcome the actual inequality of opportunities between women and men.
 In order to bring Ukrainian legislation in line with international standards set by the European Union, we propose: to grant the right to vote in local elections to citizens of other states or stateless persons who permanently reside on the territory of the respective territorial community and permanently pay local taxes and fees have common local interests related to everyday life, infrastructure, communication, recreation; to introduce electronic voting; not to apply the institution of cash deposit at the local level; to introduce individual (party) gender quotas, following the French example.