The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has sealed a preliminary approval of the presidential bill on amending Articles 76 and 77 of the Constitution of Ukraine (on reducing the constitutional composition of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and consolidating the proportional electoral system) (No. 1017).
The relevant bill was backed by 236 MPs of 393 registered in the session hall, an UNIAN correspondent reports.
According to the bill, Article 76 establishes that the constitutional composition of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine shall be 300 (now 450) lawmakers, who are elected for a five-year term.
A lawmaker shall be elected among citizens of Ukraine who have reached the age of 21 on election day, have the right to vote, have been resident in Ukraine for at least the last five years, and speak the state language.
A citizen who has a criminal record for committing a deliberate crime cannot become legislator if this criminal record has not been cleared and removed in the manner prescribed by law.
Article 77 establishes that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is elected by the proportional election system.
Section XV "Transitional Provisions" is proposed to be supplemented with Paragraph 17, which establishes that after Law of Ukraine "On amendments to Articles 76 and 77 of the Constitution of Ukraine (on reducing the constitutional composition of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and consolidating the proportional electoral system)" enters into force, the already elected parliament shall continue exercising its powers until the next parliamentary elections.
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As UNIAN reported earlier, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, forwarded the relevant bill to the Constitutional Court on September 3, 2019.
The bill proposes amending Article 76 of the Constitution of Ukraine, pointing out that the constitutionally binding composition of the Verkhovna Rada is 300 lawmakers (instead of 450 MPs), who are elected for five years.
Article 77 is supplemented by the norm that the lawmakers are elected under proportional representation.
The Verkhovna Rada asked the court to veto the bill for compliance with Articles 157 and 158 of the Fundamental Law.
On December 17, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled that the bill was in line with the Constitution.
