Draft law on elections during special or post-war period must be ready by end of February – Arakhamia

The Head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction David Arakhamia stated this at a joint briefing with Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk following talks with national security advisers who gathered in Kyiv today, Ukrinform reports.

Answering a question about whether the working group established in the Verkhovna Rada has deadlines for preparing the draft law on elections during a special or post-war period, Arakhamia said: "If we are talking about an internal desired deadline, then I will tell you: by the end of February we must finish, we must have a draft that we can register and vote on."

According to Arakhamia, the elections themselves could take place no earlier than 90 days after the adoption of the relevant law and only on the condition of a ceasefire.

"That is, we count a 90-day period when the draft is already agreed upon. Because the coordination of the draft [law] alone can take any amount of time…And from that point [from the adoption of the law] another 90 days, provided that a ceasefire is ensured, this is potentially possible," he explained.

Another important issue discussed at the briefing was which questions could be put to a referendum.

Stefanchuk noted that today in Kyiv, discussions with national security advisers covered not only bureaucratic issues related to elections, but also matters that are "red lines" for Ukraine.

"It is very important that today we discussed here, and I understand that all colleagues realized, that issues concerning the Constitution of Ukraine, issues that are directly regulated by the highest legislative act, cannot be the subject of either a nationwide or any other referendum. There can be only one referendum question: do you support the peace agreement or do you not support it," Stefanchuk said.

As reported, the first online meeting of the working group on preparing legislative proposals regarding elections during a special or post-war period, chaired by First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Korniienko, took place on December 26. The next meeting is scheduled for January 9.

Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that if the ratification of a peace agreement between Ukraine, the United States, Russia, and Europe requires a nationwide referendum, presidential elections in Ukraine could be held at the same time.