How have democratic institutions changed during the war? Is it time to talk about elections in Ukraine? And why does our European integration path depend on changes to the Constitution? Yulia Kyrychenko, member of the Board of the Center of Policy and Legal Reform, co-chair of the Board of the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition, spoke about all this and more in an interview with the special project “Republic” of the CHESNO Movement.

In the special project “Republic”, CHESNO Movement talks to experts, scholars and MPs about how the full-scale war has affected the interaction of key bodies and branches of power, what the Verkhovna Rada needs to strengthen institutional stability, how to preserve democratic principles and mechanisms of citizen participation in decision-making under martial law. 

Watch the full interview here. And we share some of the expert’s theses with you below.

Parliament during the war

Today, every member of parliament has a single duty – to perform their functions as efficiently as possible. Parliament has changed its procedures, but all the elements of democratic lawmaking have been preserved. Moreover, transparency is being restored, for example, by allowing a certain pool of journalists to enter the Verkhovna Rada.

Why is the constitutional reform timely?

I do not believe that it is not the right time to talk about constitutional reform. A very large number of provisions need to be adjusted, and first of all, the protected sections, i.e. the first, third and thirteenth. Protected chapters are those that cannot be changed by the parliament on its own, and changes must be approved by the people of Ukraine at the level of a referendum. But the discussion should already begin, because the reform is legitimate when it is discussed with everyone. Without changing the protected sections, we will not be able to become a full member of the European Union.

The role of the President of Ukraine

The role of the president of Ukraine has been strong during different cadences, as it has been historically. Unfortunately, we have not yet come to strong, stable representation of political parties. We absolutely need to strengthen the status of a member of parliament. Do we have a stronger role for the president than what is written in the Constitution? Yes, but I repeat once again: this is not only a problem of the parliament, but also a problem of the fact that we, Ukrainians, have not yet built a sustainable political system.

Post-War Elections

Future post-war elections will be crucial for Ukraine, both in terms of reconstruction and the European integration process. The first priority is to ensure that the election results are not questioned by Ukrainian society itself. Secondly, these first post-war elections will be technically challenging—they will be unique. Professional experts must be involved, and it’s better to agree on the algorithm for conducting post-war elections now.

Amendments to the Law on Public Consultations

It is a significant achievement that the parliament adopted the Law on Public Consultations, but it is unfortunate that an exception was made for legislative proposals from MPs. I believe this parliament could correct this by allowing public consultations to be conducted online, which is not a difficult task.