CHANGES IN THE ELECTION PROCESS – ANDRIY PRIHODKO COMMENT

There are a number of theories of the emergence of the "State" institution, one of which comes from the social contract.

According to this theory, the state is the result of a social agreement on the rules of cohabitation. In order to achieve common interests and security, people united and entered into an agreement among themselves that they transfer part of their rights inherent to them from birth to the state as a body representing their common interests, and the state, for its part, is obliged to it is necessary to ensure the natural rights of a person. In case of violation of the terms of the contract, the people have the right to revolution and change the ruler.

Therefore, based on the stated definition of the State as an institution, one of the primary duties of all state institutions is to ensure the right of citizens to participate in state management.

In Ukraine, this principle is enshrined in Article 5 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the provisions of which stipulate that the bearer of sovereignty and the only source of power in Ukraine is the people. The people exercise power directly and through state authorities and local self-government bodies.

Article 5 of the Constitution of Ukraine should be understood as saying that all power in Ukraine belongs to the people. The power of the people is primary, unified and inalienable and is exercised by the people through free expression of their will through elections, referendums, other forms of direct democracy in the manner determined by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, through state authorities and local self-government bodies formed in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Ukraine.

One of the introduced mechanisms for the participation of Ukrainian citizens in the management of the country is the election of deputies of all levels and the President of Ukraine.

The Electoral Code of Ukraine is a legal act that regulates relations in this area.

The current Election Code entered into force on January 1, 2020 and regulates the entire election system of Ukraine.

This Law was a very important step in electoral reform. But the code itself is not the last point in this reform, in particular it does not solve the issue of fighting corruption and the influence of big capital on election results.

The above is related, including but not exclusively, to the fact that until now the questions remain relevant: what exactly is the voter voting for, what is the main factor that attracts voters' votes, and what is the pre-election program.

Until now, despite the implemented mechanisms for the participation of Ukrainian citizens in the management of the country, state institutions have not provided the MAIN thing - mechanisms have not been implemented that will give voters the opportunity not to choose well-known and charismatic personalities from representatives of the authorities, but to choose the direction of the state's development by voting for one or the other candidate/party.

In particular, the Election Code of Ukraine contains neither a definition nor the content of the pre-election program.

The lack of definition and structure of the election program led to the transformation of election programs into presentations of their own ambitions and promises that are not binding.

This allows candidates/parties to gain a legitimate mandate of power to manipulate voters' opinions by proclaiming populist and abstract goals that are either unsustainable or unachievable.

Due to the presence of the above-mentioned gaps, the authors of the draft law propose to fundamentally change the approach to elections by introducing the term "PRELIMINARY STRATEGY" with the following definition.

The pre-election strategy is a stage-structured document in which the goals, general orientation, content, order of actions and measures to be taken by the candidate/party are defined in detail in order to achieve the goals and introduce changes in certain areas of the state's life, in a certain period of time, including but not exclusively, regarding medical and social protection of the population, economic development and increase in the level of GDP, defense capability of the state, fight against corruption in the environmental sphere.

Each candidate and/or party that plans to participate in elections to legislative and/or other elected bodies of power must draw up a pre-election strategy for the main areas of the state's vital activities, in which it should be noted:

• what is the goal in a specific field;
• what changes and/or reforms and/or measures are planned by the candidate/party to achieve the specified goals;
• what are the sources of financing measures/reforms/changes proposed by the candidate and/or the party to achieve the declared goals;
• what are the deadlines for achieving the declared goals and the deadlines for implementing the changes necessary for this.

In general, according to the authors of the draft law, there are four main stages of creating a re-election strategy: analytical, planning, implementation and monitoring.

Only the first and second stages are submitted to the Central Election Commission for election registration.

The third and fourth are directly dependent on whether a candidate or a party (political organization) will pass and receive a legitimate power mandate, in fact, it is the implementation of an approved pre-election strategy.

The first stage includes the analytical part of the strategy, which captures the state of where we are now ("as is").

This stage includes the collection of information, statistical data, results of sociological research, etc. During the analysis of the collected indicators and the determination of tactical (operational) and strategic goals, an analysis of the sources and possibilities of financing measures aimed at achieving the defined goals must be carried out as a mandatory condition.

Tasks (setting the task implies specification in the form of projects) and analysis of funding sources The stage of the analytical part of the strategy ends already during the planning period of the strategy (flowing into it).

The analytical part of the strategy should also include a SWOT analysis and a GAP analysis of the current situation in the following areas:

• The foreign policy situation in the country;
• Domestic political situation in the country;
• Economic block of strategy;
• Societal (social, sociological) block of strategy;
• The strategy block is designed for the country's defense capabilities;
• Ecological strategy block.

The analysis of the foreign policy situation involves an assessment of the country's status in the international arena and the identification of partners.

The analysis of the internal political situation involves the assessment of internal political movements in the middle of the country, including, but not limited to, the number of parties/political movements, their direction and ideology, influence on the development of the state, in order to determine one's affiliation.

The economic block of the strategy involves the analysis of such areas as:

• taxes,
• subsidies,
• pensions,
• social benefits,
• tariffs,
• the level of the minimum wage and living wage,
• the level of average wages in the state/region,
• purchasing power of citizens
• inflation rate, etc.

The social block of the strategy involves the analysis of:

• population employment policy,
• youth credit policy,
• housing policy,
• medicine,
• diagnosis and prevention,
• education,
• science and culture,
• sport.

The ecological block of the strategy involves the analysis of such areas as environmental protection, resource conservation, energy efficiency, and safety.

The second stage includes the formation of working groups to write one or another part of the strategy in order to answer the question of how it should be ("as to be").

It is necessary to develop the structural parts of the strategy according to the plan, which provides for the implementation of the "Concept of sustainable development of society" in practice and is based on the Goals of sustainable development for a period of 5-10 years.

That is, the above-mentioned Concept determines exactly which contribution to the economic, social, ecological and other components of the development of society is planned and how it will be made, during which period.

The planning stage involves the meaningful filling of parts of the strategy along with the completion of the analysis stage with a clear presentation of time segments - periods of implementation and resource provision for the implementation of the strategy. This stage ends with the official approval of the strategy.

The pre-election strategy must contain a list of goals that can be divided into tactical (operational), strategic, the period of their achievement, measures, changes, including but not exclusively the necessary changes in legislation, which must be adopted, introduced and implemented to achieve the specified goals, sources of financing events.

That is, at the planning stage, a mission must be defined, a vision of ways to achieve this mission and development scenarios must be modeled in the following areas:

• The foreign policy situation in the country;
• Domestic political situation in the country;
• Economic block of strategy;
• Societal (social, sociological) block of strategy;
• The strategy block is designed for the country's defense capabilities;
• Ecological strategy block.

The third stage is the direct implementation of a defined pre-election strategy in a specific space and time. This stage involves the implementation of the main tasks on a practical level and continues until the end of the planning period or the achievement of important goals.

The fourth stage begins and is carried out during the implementation of the strategy in order to identify weaknesses in the planning and implementation of the strategy.

Permanent monitoring is a necessary tool in the successful implementation of the strategy and is carried out in order to assess the sufficiency of resources for its implementation. Monitoring and evaluation of strategy implementation involves writing and publishing an annual plan and strategy implementation report.

The implementation of the pre-election strategy will provide an opportunity for voters to compare the importance/reality of implementation/effectiveness of the changes declared by the candidates for obtaining the legitimacy of power.

For this purpose, pre-election strategies should be brought to all voters through its presentation, announcement or demonstration in another convenient way during campaigning events, in the forms provided for by the Election Code of Ukraine. The voter has the right and must always hear or see, if not the entire structure of the pre-election strategy of the candidate/party, then at least its main provisions (concept) or links to online or offline platforms/sources for familiarization with the relevant strategy.

In the election system, in which each candidate/party has a clear strategy for the development of the state, which is proven by all publicly available methods, the focus is on the strategy, not on the personality of the candidate.

Therefore, candidates for the legitimacy of power will nominate not so much their own personality (status, charisma, team, popular respect, etc.), but what and how they want to achieve and implement, having acquired the status of legitimate power with the corresponding rights and obligations.

In the event that the voter will not vote for the personality of this or that candidate, but for a specific strategy presented by the candidate/party, the formula for modifying the country that the collective voter sees for themselves will actually be chosen.

In other words, these changes propose the introduction of an impersonal model of elections, where the strategy of the country's development for which the voter votes and to which the elected candidate adapts, implementing this strategy, is at the head of the corner.

In the case of re-election of candidates and/or parties to elected authorities, the voting results will be the result of an assessment of the third and fourth stages, i.e. the implementation and implementation of the pre-election strategy proposed by the candidate and/or party in the previous elections.

This draft law proposes, so to speak, the expansion of the rights of citizens of Ukraine, or the specification of the right provided for in Article 5 of the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of the determination by citizens of Ukraine of the directions of the country's development.

In addition, the changes envisaged by this draft law are aimed at minimizing pre-election populism and the participation of so-called "Technical candidates", and as mentioned above, will enable the voter to give a real assessment of the work of the elected candidates for power in the next elections.

In general, potential candidates and parties (political organizations) do not conduct a meaningful discussion among the voters and focus on speculating with common - depending on the region - slogans (populism), as evidenced by the relevant statistics.

Analytical portal "Word and Deed" as a result of monitoring the quality of the implementation of programs of presidents, political parties, governments and mayors, gives the following coefficients of implementation of pre-election promises (programs):

Parliament VIII Convocation (% fulfillment of promises)

Average overall ratio: 56.5%

Parliament of the IX Convocation

Average overall ratio: 9.8%

Implementation of the program of the candidate for the post of President of Ukraine

During the survey of citizens, the following data were obtained:

1. The main factor that most influences the candidate's choice is:

• Personal qualities of the candidate - answered by 57% of potential voters;
• Results of previous activities - 43% of potential voters;
• Program and proposals - 40% of potential voters.

2. As for the reasons for choosing a certain candidate, the main ones are two, which are available to voters of almost all candidates:

• attractiveness of the candidate's personality is a significant motive for 36% of voters;
• the proximity of the candidate's ideas and proposals is also a motive for 36%.

Just as voters mostly vote sensitively, that is, guided by feelings and emotions, politicians bet on their own image, leading the voter to make a more personalized choice than a critical one, guided by this or that election program. So, that is why voters put the personal qualities of a candidate or candidates (party) first, because the latter generally do not appeal in their pre-election campaign about their programs and specific objective proposals.

Voters primarily seek change for their collective productive and constructive existence, rather than electing a leader for his political strength and personal charisma. To achieve this goal, the collective electorate must focus its attention on strategy, not on a political personality, who mostly manipulates their minds through the rhetoric of populism.

At the same time, state funds allocated to a candidate's or party's pre-election campaign will, in this case, be directed to the voter's awareness of what he or she is voting for.

If the voter will follow the declared campaign strategy and its implementation, and not the individual candidate/party, the masses will be guided by objective and critical thinking during their will.

The proposed amendments to the Election Code of Ukraine are not aimed at depriving candidates for power of the opportunity to hold campaign events in the form of concerts, sports competitions, showing films, etc., which distract the voter's attention from what exactly this or that candidate offers him for the legitimacy of power.

The implementation of the proposed amendments aims at mandatory coverage of the pre-election strategy of one or another candidate/party during campaign events, be it cultural or sports.

Coverage of the pre-election strategy is a set of actions aimed at both direct coverage of information to the masses, when a candidate for the legitimacy of power/his representative purposefully describes the structure of the pre-election strategy to voters, and indirect coverage through references to it or sources where the voter can familiarize himself with pre-election strategy. That is, if during the public speech of the candidate or another person representing him, there is no coverage of the structure/content of the pre-election strategy, then there should be at least a link (QR code, link to the candidate/party website, CEC website) or an announcement about ways and means with the help of which the voter can familiarize himself with the pre-election strategy in detail.

The given system requires greater digitization of the population of Ukraine, and at the same time, it coincides with the chosen course "The country in a smartphone".

In order to find out the structure and content of the pre-election strategy of this or that candidate/party, if only a link to the online platform is available during the campaign, modern technologies will be needed. The "Action" mobile application will be quite useful for this.

Socially vulnerable segments of the population and the elderly, for whom the use of modern gadgets poses certain difficulties, due to the lack of a smartphone, inability or lack of high-quality connection to high-speed Internet, should also have appropriate opportunities to familiarize themselves with and analyze the content of the pre-election strategy of the candidate/party.

For this purpose, it is proposed to make links to offline platforms along with links to online platforms, where it is possible to obtain relevant information in a convenient way for voters. In particular, the location of pre-election strategies can be local administrative service centers, Ukrposhta branches, district/city, village/village councils, etc.

Preparation of draft laws necessarily includes working out the goals and tasks of adopting the act

The purpose of the adoption of the draft law is to introduce a coordinate system in which the changes declared by the candidate and the measures necessary for the introduction of these changes are the main focus, not the personality of the candidate or the authority of the party. Reducing the influence of "big capital" on election results and direct participation of voters in determining the state's development strategy.

The task of introducing the "Impersonal Model of Elections" is:

1. Overcoming pre-election populism;
2. Impossibility of nominating "technical candidates" and "clone candidates" as subjects of the election process;
3. Creation of conditions for political responsibility;
4. Production of critical thinking among voters regarding their political choice;
5. Returning public trust in the electoral system among potential voters.

Feed (develop) the Law of Ukraine. Professional assistance in the preparation of laws and other regulatory acts. General characteristics and main provisions of the draft act.

The draft Law proposes the introduction of the term Pre-election strategy to the Electoral Code and the exclusion of the term pre-election program. Also, the obligation of candidates/parties to publish the content of the pre-election strategy during all forms of campaigning is introduced.

The analysis of legislation for the purpose of preparing laws and draft laws for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine includes an analysis of the state of the legal framework in a specific area of legal regulation.

Relations in this area are regulated by the Constitution of Ukraine, the Election Code of Ukraine.

The cost of preparing a new Law (draft Law of Ukraine). Services for the preparation of draft laws and regulations are determined by agreement, depending on the complexity, volume of work, and the number of specialists involved. This calculation can be included in the financial and economic justification of the draft law.

The adoption and implementation of the draft law does not require additional funding from the state or local budgets.

Along with this, the adoption and implementation of the draft law brings positive factors, which are as follows.

State budget funds will be significantly saved.

Due to the fact that this draft law somewhat complicates the possibility of registration for regular or special elections, thereby making it impossible to register "technical candidates" or "clone candidates".

According to the content of the said draft law, in order to register for the elections, it is necessary to submit a pre-election strategy, which in turn requires in-depth analysis of the market in the country and complex economic calculations. And therefore, the number of candidates for the legitimacy of the government will be significantly reduced to units and will consist of the most responsible and conscious persons who are really absorbed in the problems of the economic, social, international and defense policy of the state, the main indicators in the specified areas and are working out measures that will allow to achieve better indicators .

How to develop an effective Law in Ukraine? At the time of its drafting, the person in charge of the Law must take into account the forecast of socio-economic and other consequences of the adoption of the act.

Analytical work to build a pre-election strategy is carried out independently by a candidate or a party (political organization) on its own or by obtaining a free consultation by applying to state institutions of the country such as the State University "Institute of Economics and Forecasting of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine".

The adoption of the draft Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to the Election Code of Ukraine on the Introduction of Pre-Election Strategy" will help the citizens of Ukraine to exercise their right to vote and truly participate in the development of the state.

The above will significantly affect the level of trust in the electoral system among the population of Ukraine.

Professional assistance in the preparation of Laws of Ukraine (normative legal acts) is what we understand. That is why we propose the following version of the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to the Election Code of Ukraine Regarding the Implementation of Pre-Election Strategy" - lawyer, media expert on legal issues, Doctor of Law Andriy Prykhodko

THE LAW OF UKRAINE

On amendments to the Election Code of Ukraine

regarding the implementation of the pre-election strategy

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has established:

І. Make the following changes to the Election Code of Ukraine (No. 396-IX):

1. Add Article 5-1 with the following content:

"Article 5-1. Pre-election strategy.

1. The pre-election strategy is a stage-structured document in which the goals, general orientation, content, order of actions and measures to be taken by the candidate/party are defined in detail in order to achieve and implement changes in certain areas of the state's life, in a certain period of time, including but not exclusively, regarding medical and social protection of the population, economic development and increasing the level of GDP, defense capability of the state, fight against corruption in the environmental sphere."
2. In part two of Article 14, point 2 of part two of Article 23, part three of Article 47, point 3 of part one of Article 51, part two of Article 51, part four of Article 57, part nine of Article 57, point 3 of part one of Article 88, point Article 103, Part One, Clause 2, Article 104, Part Ten, Article 104, Part One, Article 106, Part Two, Article 106, Article 145, Part One, Clause 3, Article 155, Part One, Clause 3, Article 159, Part One, Clause 2, Article 159, Clause 2 Article 161, part two of article 163, paragraph 4 of part one of article 222, paragraph 3 of part one of article 232, part two of article 234 replace the word "program" with the word "strategy".
3. The first part of Article 51 shall be supplemented with a paragraph with the following content:

"Any form of campaigning is carried out with the mandatory proof of the pre-election strategy to those present at the events, through a visual or audio demonstration or by referring to an online or offline platform for familiarization with it."

II. FINAL AND TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS

1. This law enters into force on the day following its publication.