Christian-Democratic Party’s Memorandum

English text of the memorandum distributed by the Christian-Democratic Party.

The Anti-crisis Memorandum

In order to resolve the crisis caused by a highly polarized and tense political environment in the country and to make the political process democratic, the opposition subjects (political parties and MPs) believe that the following changes need to be made in all important spheres of political life:

Election system

1. Amendments to the election code should be worked out by political parties, NGOs and individuals concerned. Those changes should be based on the recommendations made by international organisations (draft more accurate voter lists; change a system of formation of the election commissions at all levels; simplify filing of appeals and complaints; elaborate on limits on participation in election campaign by police officers and public officials, misuse of public duties, use of budget resources. etc) and a plebiscite should be held on the system of the future parliamentary elections. 
2. The chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) should be appointed on the basis of a consensus between political parties.
3. Mayors and governors should be directly elected in the next local elections.
4. All violations and irregularities which occurred during the previous parliamentary elections should be thoroughly investigated.

Legal system

5. An opposition representative should be appointed in the Supreme Council of Justice.
6. The law enforcement and court systems should be reformed by a multi-party commission and a special council should be formed to monitor the law informant agencies. (Reagan’s model).
7. To guarantee an effective controlling system over spending of budget funds, a new code on the Chamber of Control should be adopted to ensure that opposition members are widely represented in it and the chairman of the Chamber of Control is appointed in agreement with the opposition. 
8. A system for parliamentary control over the Prosecutor General’s Office should be   created, and the participation of opposition representatives in the system should be guaranteed.

Media

9. An appropriate law code should be adopted to guarantee the balanced news coverage by the public and commercial broadcasters between elections.
10. An opposition representative should be appointed in the National Communication Commission.

The Parliament

11. The government should guarantee that changes to the constitution are made only in agreement with the opposition. Particular mechanisms for it should be developed.
12. A special committee headed by an opposition representative should be created to control the government spending. 
13. A law code on opposition (providing additional financial and other types of guarantees) and a law code on parliamentary minority should be adopted to insure that the opposition is handed over particular levers of control in the parliamentary work as a part of the system (guaranteed participation in the management of the parliamentary committees; the right to initiate investigation commissions; participation in trustee groups etc.)