The Verkhovna Rada passed the law on the referendum

Today, January 26, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law "On democracy through an all-Ukrainian referendum."

In the second reading, the bill was supported by 255 deputies, 58 voted against, 40 abstained, the rest either did not take part in the voting or were absent from the hall.

Now the adopted law must be signed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Undoubtedly, he will do this, since the law was his initiative and election promise.

Until today, the only successful example of the people's will was the referendum on the confirmation of the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, which took place on December 1, 1991.

In April 2000, there was another referendum initiated by the then President Leonid Kuchma. Then the majority of Ukrainians spoke in favor of strengthening presidential power, reducing the number of deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, creating a bicameral parliament and simplifying the procedure for bringing deputies to criminal liability.

But the cunning of the then legislation was that the results of the referendum had to be implemented by the Verkhovna Rada, which, of course, did not.

But, in the adopted law on the all-Ukrainian referendum, this norm is no longer there. That is, any law that is adopted by referendum automatically comes into force.

The unconditional triumph of democracy, which not even all members of the pro-presidential faction were ready to support. It got to the point where David Arakhamia threatened his colleagues with expulsion from the faction. The appeal, apparently, had an effect, since 226 single-majority votes were enough to pass the law. The Dovira group and non-factional deputies simply added legitimization to the controversial bill.

And the controversy is that the very procedure for organizing an all-Ukrainian referendum remains rather complicated. But, if the "people's initiative" is supported by the authorities, then there will be no problems with either the organization or the results.

However, the Servant of the People hopes that the bill carries more positive than negative. This opinion was expressed in a commentary to a Klymenko Time journalist by MP Irina Vereshchuk.

“In the first reading, I supported this bill. He is one of the first that our Servant of the People faction promised to accept after the parliamentary elections. We also need a law on an all-Ukrainian referendum, on local local referendums, and on the recall of deputies. Yes, I believe that people should have access to and participate in politics. But apparently not everyone agrees with this opinion. There is confusion and vacillation in the Servant of the People faction. David Arakhamia warned a certain “group” in an internal chat that if they sabotaged the vote on the presidential referendum bill, deputies who did not vote would be subject to sanctions, up to and including expulsion. “This is a watershed,” Arakhamia wrote menacingly. There is a feeling that it means "Kolomoisky's group"- shared Vereshchuk.

Earlier we wrote about what the Rada called estimated cost of holding a referendum.