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of equality of political parties before the law. The money deposit envisaged by the provisions contained in Article 43 of the law by their legal nature is not a property qualification and the said norm does not contradict the provisions of Article 21 and Article 24 of the Constitution of Ukraine. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine indicated that the determination of the socially oriented amount of the deposit is a matter of political expediency and does no belong to the competency of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. Language: Ukrainian

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63 Members of Parliament of Ukraine on the constitutionality of the provisions of Art. 43 of the Parliamentary Elections Law of Ukraine concerning the election deposit

Judgment

Summary: The MPs argued that the property establishes property restrictions and thus discriminates against less wealthy citizens, and therefore contradicts Article 24 of the Constitution of Ukraine. The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine submitted their remarks in this regard. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada supported the challenged provision in general, but expressed his concern about the amount required for deposit. The President noted that during the parliamentary debate he vetoed the bill because the amount of deposit proposed in it was disproportionately large. The court recognized the aforementioned provision compliant with the Constitution and emphasized the different legal nature of the property qualification and of the election deposit, saying that the property qualification was a qualifying condition for the availability of the right to vote, while the deposit was only a condition for the candidate’s registration. In the Court’s opinion, an election deposit cannot be considered as a restriction of passive electoral rights of citizens on the basis of its property status. At the same time, in this decision, the Constitutional Court stated that the size of the election deposit is determined depending on the property capacity of the majority of population. Violation of this requirement may significantly limit the number of applicants for seats in the parliament, especially of those from financially deprived parties and candidates for people’s deputies. However, the definition of the socially beneficial size of the election deposit is a matter of political expediency and does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Court.

Conclusion: The court recognized the aforementioned provision compliant with the Constitution, simultaneously stating that the size of the election deposit should be determined depending on the property capacity of the majority of population.

Legal Issue(s)

Candidate Registration

Applicable Law(s): Parliamentary Elections Law – Art 43 Constitution - Articles 21, 24

Region: Europe and Eurasia

Country: Ukraine

Language of Decision

English

Court: Electoral Court

Election Type: General

Date of decision: Jan 31, 2012

Geolocation

Latitude: 50.48492695

Longitude: 30.46527606

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

2002_0 (1).pdf
English
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Election Judgments - IFES

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63 Members of Parliament of Ukraine on the constitutionality of the provisions of Art. 43 of the Parliamentary Elections Law of Ukraine concerning the election deposit

Primary Documents

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