Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli has drawn the attention of Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy to the need to change the electoral system in Ukraine and replace members of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) as soon as possible.

Opening the conference on the openness of public authorities in Kyiv on Friday, Mingarelli said the democracy is based on an open electoral process, which is probably the most important pillar of public access to the system of public administration and Ukraine needs to continue reforming the electoral legislation and replacing the Central Election Commission.

In his words, it is important to the EU that Ukraine should continue the progress in these two areas.

As reported, in June 2016, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko proposed to dismiss 12 members of the Central Election Commission, including its chairman Mykhailo Okhendovsky and submitted to the Verkhovna Rada the nomination of 11 new members of the Central Election Commission.

However, Leader of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction Ihor Hryniv then said the parliament hadn't reached a consensus yet concerning the election of the new CEC.

The term in office of 12 out of the 15 members of the Central Election Commission expired on June 1, 2014. However, they continue to perform their duties based on the amendments to the law on the CEC, which were made in March 2014 in order to ensure the uninterrupted electoral process during the presidential election campaign.

According to Ukraine's Constitution, the Verkhovna Rada appoints and dismisses members of the CEC based on proposals of the president.