Local referendums: everything is just beginning
On October 10, a press conference was held at the expert club “Pure Policy” dedicated to the completion of the reform of the Institute of Local Referendum: Participation of Citizens in Governance, which, within the framework of coalition cooperation, implements the Polissya Fund of International and Regional Research within the framework of the Pact Inc.
According to Yevgeny Romanenko, the project manager, the main idea of coalition cooperation of public organizations from 8 regions of Ukraine was the combination of the expert potential of the regions to develop recommendations to the bill “On the Local Referendum” (RN 7082), which was made by parliament in the first They were aimed at inclusion in the draft regulatory document of provisions that would expand the ability to influence citizens on resolving issues of local importance at the initiative of the public. “The analytical stage of the project-a comprehensive analysis of the draft law, conducting focus groups, expert surveys and thematic round tables-allowed to work out the complex agreed recommendations for the bill, which are formalized both in separate analytical reports, and in the form of consolidated recommendations to the draft law. All the analytical materials developed within the project were housed in regional media, ”Yevgeny Romanenko said.
Equally important was the project of a wide educational campaign at the local level in order to promote the local referendum as an effective tool for direct democracy. According to Gennady Maxaka, the head of the Polissya Fund, the most resonant event in this direction was the conduct of a mini-referendum in Chernihiv at the end of July. “It should be emphasized that it was after our event that a number of political forces began to actively articulate the subject of local referendums and focused on them when drawing up election programs,” Gennady Maxak said.
But the final and most important stage of the project is the implementation of the developed recommendations – ahead. Alexander Zaslavsky, an expert of the laboratory of legislative initiatives (Kyiv) – an organization that acts as a coalition coordinator and provides communication with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. “The situation that has today with a local referendum bill is that the Committee on State Construction and Local Self -Government, both for objective and political reasons, has not yet taken place a meeting of the working group formed on this issue. This means that the bill is automatically included in the agenda of the next session of the new Verkhovna Rada as a first reading. Accordingly, the committee in a new composition will be finalized. And we will lobby for public expert proposals after the new composition of the committee is approved. We hope that in the wave of changes, the updated mandorononese with perseverance will refine the such necessary bill we need, ”the LZI representative said.
The Reform of the Institute of Local Referendum: Citizens’ Participation in Governance is implemented by the Polissya Fund of International and Regional Research as a common initiative of the pro -proactinc, the International Renaissance Foundation and the Eastern Europe Foundation.
The implementation of the Local Initiatives Supporting Component for the UNITER, which is implemented by Pactinc., Was made possible by the sincere support of the American people provided through the USAID Agency (USAID) and financial support of the International Renaissance Foundation.