Oleksandr Sibiliev, first deputy secretary of the SDPU(U) Crimean republican committee, honoured lawyer of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, "Nasha Gazeta ", 36 (177) September 20, 2002

In his TV Independence Day address to Ukrainian people President Leonid Kuchma said: "I am convinced that for its further development the country needs to go over to another political system - parliamentary-presidential republic". One of the steps in the direction of political reforms, in the President's opinion, should become a reform of Ukraine's election legislation which would be up to the "requirements of parliamentary-presidential system". In other words, as the President said, we need proportional election system, but it should be of European type". This statement by the President is not accidental. It was caused by some objective circumstances, related to the changes within our society and, first of all, by its political structuring. In the period following proclamation of Ukraine's independence the process of political structuring within the society was constantly under way.

It showed up in the creation of political parties of which we currently have more than a hundred. And each of them purposes its aim - to come to power. The latest elections to the Verkhovna Rada showed that under mixed election system the arrival of a single political party to power is difficult. This task can only be achieved under proportional election system, and only a very well structured party or a bloc of political parties is up to it.

One of such political forces is the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (United). This party has a solid ideological basis - social democratic ideology. Unlike other parties, the SDPU(U) has a well-developed system of its organizations which unite over 300 000 members. The SDPU(U) has sufficient access to mass media, including its party organ "Nasha Gazeta " with a circulation of over 235 thousand copies.

Besides the SDPU(U), in Ukraine there other parties whose potential possibilities are enough to aspire to power. Among such parties there are the Communist Party of Ukraine, Rukh, Socialist Party of Ukraine, Party of Regions, Working Ukraine, and Popular Democratic Party of Ukraine, which is evidence to the fact that political forces able to take over not only the power but also political responsibility for further development of the country have finally appeared in Ukraine.

Under such conditions it is necessity to reform Ukraine's election legislation. To take a decision on the implementation of proportional election system in the country we should clearly understand its advantages over the existing mixed election system under which 225 deputies are elected on proportional basis, and the other 225, on majority basis.

First of all this issue should be addresses on the basis of political appropriateness. The history of the last 3 convocations of the Verkhovna Rada shows that majority deputies often changed factions (some of them did it up to 14 times), which made it impossible to create a constant majority in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The absence of a parliamentary majority had a negative impact on the adoption of laws that were vital for economic and social development of the country. The truth is that due to their personal interests, majority deputies cannot guarantee the creation of a parliamentary majority and the efficiency of its activity. Only proportional election system can provide all necessary pre-conditions for the creation of a constant majority in the Parliament.

And now the second advantage of proportional election system. International practice of European parliamentary system proves that the party in power strives to retain its authority in future. It encourages it to make the decisions that would make the voters satisfied with the policy it carries out. If the party in power cannot prove that it reflects the voters' interests, in the nearest elections it will be forced to give way to other political forces whose program will appeal more to the voters.

And one more factor showing advantages of proportional system over the majority one. However good a majority deputy might be, for some objective reasons he cannot present an integral program of future economic and social development of the whole country when he comes to the Parliament. Only a political party with an enormous scientific potential and well-prepared cadres is capable of doing it. Before the elections every party proposes its election program. And, as a rule, voters give their votes to the party they have confidence to. And after coming to power the party will be obliged to implement its election program. And at the same time its activity will be constantly controlled and criticized by other parties and by the opposition.

But at the same time we cannot but agree with advocates of majority system saying that majority deputies are closer to their voters than deputies elected from party lists. This statement, however, is not confirmed by the practice. Public opinion polls among the voters show that in four years of their activity the overwhelming majority of majority deputies meet their voters only once or twice. To a great extent it can be explained by the fact that constituencies are formed by a large number of settlements and deputies are not able to meet their voters on a regular basis. In contrast, a party has its organizations in every settlement, which makes its possible for the voters to address organizations of the party in power with propositions, petitions and questions. Party organizations sum up all the petitions of the voters. If a problem can be solved locally, party organizations achieve it through local councils deputies elected to represent the party. All the suggestions proposed by the voters that need to be solve at legislative level, are sent to the faction of the party in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Such a practice have become very common for the SDPU(U) which in every rayon and city committee has public reception rooms of the party's parliamentary faction. Such a system allows the party to closely co-operate with its voters.

There is one more extremely important aspect to be taken into consideration when talking about the advantages of proportional election system - responsibility of majority deputies and deputies elected from party lists. The practice shows that majority deputies do not respond for their activity to anybody. Our legislation does not provide for a procedure to recall a deputy. While a deputy elected from the party is always responsible before the party organization which recommended him. Caring for its image the party sets high demands before its deputies-members of the party as to their activity as deputies. In order to increase deputies' responsibility for the implementation of the party's election program it would be appropriate to introduce into the election legislation a regulation allowing parties to take decisions on the recall of deputies elected from party lists.

Implementing proportional election system we at the same time solve the problem of honest elections. The practice shows that under majority election system the use of administrative resources is in full swing. Using administrative pressure representatives of the authorities practically "nominate" themselves deputies. Proportional system makes the use of administrative resource impossible since voters do not vote for a concrete candidate, but for a party. And the control exercised by other parties impedes the use of administrative resource.

Ukraine declared its European choice and the creation of a parliamentary- presidential republic. Which means that the destiny of the nation and of the country will entirely depend on political parties that will come to power.