Parties meeting de-communization law requirements can run in local elections – Justice Ministry

"There are three requirements [for participation in the elections]: one must change symbols instead of propaganda symbols according to the law – sickle, hammer, red star, etc.; change the name and the [party's] activities, which according to the charter shouldn't include propaganda. No one persecutes any parties, there are strict requirements of the law," first deputy head of Justice Minister Natalia Sevastianova said on the air of TV Channel Five on Tuesday.She reminded that the Justice Ministry had created a commission to review whether symbols, names and charter activities of the party were in line with the law on de-communization. "De-communization decision has already been made in relation to three parties that won't run in the elections," Sevastianova said. In addition, she noted that a meeting of the commission would be held next week to consider if two parties met the requirements of the law. As reported, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko sent an official letter to the Central Election Commission (CEC) saying that three political parties with communist ideology didn't correspond with the current laws and of the necessity to prevent these political forces from entering the elections. "After adopting the laws [on de-communization], an independent commission was created that within a month checked if three communist parties, the Communist Party of Ukraine, Communist Party (renewed) and the Communist Party of Ukrainian Workers and Peasants, were in line [with the laws]. Based on the commission's conclusions, I signed three orders defining that Ukraine's communist parties, particularly in their activities, name, symbols, charters and programs, don't correspond with Part 2, Article 3 of the law…As of today, this political force and two other communist parties can't be a subject of election process and can't participate in country's political life," Petrenko said.