Only 15% of MPs obey the law and report on their activities twice a year. Most of them are majoritarians, because they are accountable to the voters of their constituencies. Lack of a unified mandatory form of the report makes the situation even more complicated. This was stated by Natalia Vatamaniuk, coordinator of the initiative “Open Parliament” and Oleksandra Kryvoruchko, project manager of the movement “Chesno”, at a briefing held at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. “MPs vote because they are stimulated by public organizations, currently there are three of them. We see a threat here, because the reports are not regular and the forms are not unified. That is why we have developed a report form and we want to unify and adopt it as mandatory,” said Ms. Kryvoruchko.
This report form should be integrated into parliamentary page and contain clear criteria by which voters can assess how the MPs work. “It must include work plans, deputy inquiries and appeals, work in committees and work with voters, financial costs, international activities, etc. So a voter can effectively evaluate the MP’s activity,” noted MP Ostap Yednak.
However, the general public still needs to be taught that such reports should be considered when choosing a person to vote for. “We are not aware that it is essential for the society to draw conclusions by following how a person works, attends committee meetings. And then, if needed, there may be sanctions and the person will not be voted for during the election. For the only effective sanction mechanism for MPs can be political sanctions when the person simply will not be able to come to parliament. The public still need to be explained who is an effective MP,” believes MP Alyona Shkrum.
