Poroshenko favors early local elections after amending constitution
KYIV/STRASBOURG. June 26 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko calls for holding early elections to local self-government bodies after amendments to the constitution take effect.
"Ukraine should hold early local elections following the adoption of constitutional amendments so that the elected leaders of territorial communities assume new powers and new responsibility," Poroshenko said at a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Thursday.
Elected lawmakers would form local councils, which would in turn form an executive committee, he said.
The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada registered a presidential bill amending the constitution on Thursday. The key element of the amendments concerns the decentralization of the governance system in Ukraine and the expansion of local self-government powers.