The Development of Electoral Legislation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1920)

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to reveal the main principles and features of the formation of higher representative bodies during the period of restoration of Ukrainian statehood (1917–1920). The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, systematicity, scientificity, authorial objectivity, as well as the use of general scientific (analysis, synthesis, generalization) and special-historical (historical-genetic, historical-typological, historical-systemic) methods. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that for the first time the attempts to form higher representative bodies in accordance with democratic principles and on the basis of free, secret voting of citizens, which was supposed to lay the foundation for the formation of suffrage in Ukraine during the period of restoration of an independent state (1917–1920), were investigated. Conclusions. The law "On Elections to the Constituent Assembly of the Ukrainian People's Republic" adopted by it became the most important in view of the strategic tasks of the Central Rada in the field of state building. It was the largest law passed by the Central Rada, 183 articles of which detailed the procedure for organizing and conducting elections. After P. Skoropadsky announced himself as Hetman of all Ukraine, it was promised that a law would be issued in the near future, which was supposed to establish a new procedure for elections to the Ukrainian Parliament. However, such a law was not adopted during the entire period of P. Skoropadskyi's reign. The Law "On the State People's Council of the Ukrainian People's Republic", which was adopted already during the time of the Directory, established that the members of the State People's Council act as representatives of the citizens of the Ukrainian State and their term of office was to last until the formation of the Parliament of Ukraine, but not more than one year. According to it, the parliament of the Ukrainian People's Republic – the State Council – was supposed to be a unicameral body elected on the basis of universal, equal, direct, secret voting for both men and women on the basis of proportionality. Before the convocation of the parliament, the legislative power was supposed to belong to the State Diet (pre-parliament), the composition and method of formation of which was to be determined by a separate law. However, due to the seizure of Ukraine by the Bolsheviks, it was not possible to put such documents into practice. But the fundamental importance of these documents regarding the formation of the electoral foundations of the Ukrainian electoral legislation does not lose its relevance.