No preconditions for holding referendum on status of occupied territories - MP
That’s according to People's Deputy Fedir Venislavsky (Servant of the People faction), who is a presidential representative to the Constitutional Court, Ukrinform reported referring to Dom TV.
"We do not have the necessary legal preconditions at the moment. Since the Constitution clearly stipulates that, firstly, the territory of Ukraine is integral and inviolable, sovereignty extends to the entire territory of Ukraine. Secondly, the law on the all-Ukrainian referendum clearly states that no issues contradicting the Constitution of Ukraine shall be decided in a referendum," the People's Deputy explained.
According to the legislator, Article 133 of the Constitution of Ukraine states that in the system of administrative-territorial organization of Ukraine, there are 24 regions, as well as the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol.
"And any changes in the status of certain administrative-territorial units lead to amendments to the Constitution. And constitutional amendments are made in line with a clearly defined procedure (requiring 300 votes in parliament - ed.)," added Venislavsky.
He noted that in general, it is too early to talk about a referendum and the issues that might be raised.
"We can't say for sure whether there will be an all-Ukrainian referendum and what issue will be raised. Because when our President gave an interview, he stressed that such issues are related to such difficult relations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, according to the Constitution, should really be decided in a referendum. For example, it back in 2015, an issue of signing the Minsk agreements (in their final version) had been put to a popular vote, I’m not sure they would’ve been signed," Venislavsky said.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, on December 10, in an interview with 1+1 TV, President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted the possibility of holding a referendum on the occupied territories of Ukraine "if there is a difficult challenge" in place. He said that so far no country has imposed on Ukraine any conditions as regards its territories, adding he doesn’t rule out this may one day happen.
On January 26, the Verkhovna Rada passed the Law on democracy through an all-Ukrainian referendum.
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