Legal status of local council deputies whose powers have been transferred to military administrations: problems of interpretation and enforcement

The article draws attention to the problem of interpretation and application of legal norms regarding the status of deputies of regional and district councils, as a result of the application to these councils of the norms of the Law of Ukraine «On the Legal Regime of Martial Law» in terms of the powers of the parliament established by the Law to make decisions on the transfer of powers of regional and district councils to the relevant military administrations. In the process of implementing the above provisions, conflicts began to arise between voters, military administrations, the National Election Commission (on the one hand) and deputies of regional and district councils (on the other hand). The first demanded that deputies fulfill some of the duties related to the exercise of powers by deputies within the electoral district, as well as the duties related to declarations to the NACP; and the second (deputies of local councils) divided themselves in understanding the scope and content of their changed status into two «camps» of those who agreed with the position of the first and those who disagreed with this position. Based on the analysis of the norms of current legislation, the opinions of scientists, as well as taking into account the content of the explanations (regarding the scope of powers of deputies of such councils) that were provided by the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration and the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning, the authors of the article concluded: deputies of regional and district councils whose powers have been transferred to military administrations do not lose their status as deputies of the respective councils. But for the period of the council’s powers being exercised by the relevant military administrations, their powers for some deputies (who worked in the council on a voluntary basis) are temporarily suspended completely, and for some deputies (who worked in the council on a permanent basis and continue to work under the leadership of the military administration) - they are limited in nature and are determined by orders of the relevant military administrations. In terms of resolving this issue, the authors propose 1) to return to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine the authority to carry out official interpretation of laws, 2) to work on legal constructions of legal norms regarding the content and features of the legal status of deputies of regional and district councils, whose powers were transferred to military administrations.