Experience of a local referendum in Ukraine as a component of local democracy (Shadow Report)

As is known, Article 38 of the Constitution of Ukraine guarantees the right of citizens to “participate in national and local referendums”, however with the loss of force of the Law of Ukraine “On national and local referendums” 1991 and the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine “On national referendum” The legally established mechanism for the initiation and conduct of local referendums is disappearing in 2012. On the other hand, the current policy of the State’s regional policy is to decentralize and deregulate power and to empower citizens to address local issues, including through the initiation and holding of local referendums. In particular, within the framework of the implementation of the reform, the Law of Ukraine “On the Voluntary Association of Communities” was adopted, where a local referendum is a necessary component of this process. However, there is still a lack of a legislative framework to regulate the mechanism for local referendums. To date, four draft laws have been registered, which should regulate this mechanism: the draft Law of Ukraine “On the All-Ukrainian Referendum” № 2145a dated 23.06.2015, “On the local referendum” № 2145a-1 dated 03.07.2015, 2145a-2 dated 06.07.2015, 2145a-3 dated 08.07.2015).

Read Experience of a local referendum in Ukraine as a component of local democracy (Shadow Report) (in Ukrainian)

The preparation and presentation of analytical reports in the Shadow Report format is part of the project embodied by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, supported by the USAID Rada Program: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly, implemented by the East Europe Foundation.