Ukrainian parliament deadlocks on election reform package News
Ukrainian parliament deadlocks on election reform package

[JURIST] The Ukrainian Parliament Saturday failed to pass an electoral reform package aimed at preventing fraud in the country's upcoming re-run of the presidential election, now scheduled for December 26. The bills had prevously been agreed to in a political deal by opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko and a significant portion of the smaller parties, including the Communist Party of Ukraine, in exchange for Yushchenko's support for legislation that limited the power of the office of the president. When Yushchenko said that he would only consider constitutional reforms on the presidency following the December 26 election, the minor parties withdrew their support and the election reform legislation failed to pass. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the election situation in Ukraine. Reuters has more.

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