Identification: UKR - 2002 - 1
a) Ukraine / b) Constitutional Court of Ukraine / c) / d) January 30, 2002 / e) 2-rp/2002
/ f) Constitutionality of the provisions contained in Article 43 of the Law of Ukraine "On
election of people's deputies of Ukraine" (case on the electoral deposit) / g) Official
Bulletin of Ukraine #6/2002 / h)
Key words of the systematic thesaurus:
Constitutional justice - Subject of the right to constitutional petition (appeal) - Petitions
from state power authorities - Legislative bodies
Constitutional justice - Object of control - Laws and other legal acts
Constitutional justice - Decision - Type - Recognition of constitutionality or nonconstitutionality
State bodies - Legislative body - Structure - Elections
State bodies - Elections and form of direct democracy - Right to be elected
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Electoral rights - Right to be elected
Key words of the alphabetic index:
Election / Voting qualification / Money (electoral) deposit
Headnotes:
The provisions contained in Article 43 of the Law of Ukraine "On election of people's
deputies of Ukraine" comply with the Constitution of Ukraine.
Summary:
Subject of the right to constitutional petition believes that the requirements
stipulated in Article 43 of the Law of Ukraine "On election of people's deputies of Ukraine"
as to necessity of making money deposit establish property qualification for citizens of
Ukraine that contradicts the provisions contained in Article 5 and Article 24 of the
Constitution of Ukraine
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine proceeded from the following: the Constitution of
Ukraine establishes a number of restrictive requirements to the right to be elected as
people's deputy of Ukraine, namely as: citizenship of Ukraine, twenty one years of age as
of the day of elections, residence in Ukraine for the last five years, no conviction for
committing of an intentional crime, unless such a conviction is cancelled and withdrawn in
prescribed by law order (Article 76, parts 2 and 3). These requirements are referred to as
"voting qualification". The Constitution of Ukraine contains no other restrictive
requirements to the citizens of Ukraine exercising their passive electoral rights, in
particular the property qualification.
The voting qualification and money (electoral) deposit have different legal nature.
The voting qualification is a qualifying condition regarding the availability of the electoral
rights while the electoral deposit is just a condition for candidate’s registration for
deputies. The money deposit is used with the purpose to ensure responsible attitude of
the citizens as prospective candidates for deputies to their participation in the election, to
assist with making of the balanced decision by the candidate for deputy, nominated in
one-mandate constituency, and candidate for deputies, included into voting lists in multimandate constituencies, and also prevent possible unjustified expenditures from state
funds. The money (electoral) deposit may not be deemed as a restriction of citizens’
passive electoral rights by property status. At the same time, establishment of money
(electoral) deposit does not violate the constitutional principle of equality of citizens
before the law and equality of their constitutional rights and freedoms, and also principle