THE ELECTION DEPOSIT IN LOCAL ELECTIONS: EVOLUTION OF NATIONAL LEGISLATION

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the election deposit in local elections in Ukraine. The main normative legal acts that regulate the preparation for and conduct of elections to local authorities from 1994 to 2020 were analyzed. It was found that the provisions on election deposit were included only in some of them. For example, the Law of Ukraine “On Elections of Deputies and Heads of Village, Settlement, District, City, District in the Cities, Regional Councils” of February 24, 1994, provided for the payment of election deposit by candidates. On the other side, it wasn’t mentioned in elections acts of 1998, 2004 and 2010. Candidates used another instrument of control – collecting voters’ signatures. The necessity of recovery the election deposit has returned in 2014. Payment procedure was significantly extended and detailed by the acts of 2014, 2015, 2020. Among the main trends: a substantial increase of the election deposit amount; enlargement of election process subjects, for which the payment of deposit is mandatory; detailed regulation of the procedure for its depositing, return and transfer; using the principle of proportionality in its accounting, etc. It is pointed out that the issue of rapid growth of election deposit seems to be the most controversial question. On the one hand, experts recognize the legislator’s desire to prevent an excessive number of candidates. On the other hand, they underline the violation of the electoral rights, exclusion from participation in local elections political forces with limited financial resources. It is obvious that its solution requires common efforts from both government officials and the scientific community. At the same time, other disputed issues were considered, in particular, discrepancy of judicial practice with the documents of payment procedure of election deposit, and stressed the need to amend the relevant acts.