MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky does not have the mandate to initiate a referendum on any issue, and his idea of putting an entire peace plan for Ukraine to a nationwide vote would contradict the law, said Nikolay Tomenko, a former Ukrainian parliamentarian.
On December 24, Zelensky shared a 20-point peace plan that Ukraine allegedly presented to the American side at recent talks in the United States with the press. According to Ukrinform news agency, Zelensky told reporters that one of the points on the draft, discussing establishing a free economic zone in Donbass, could only be solved through a referendum and that the entire draft should be put to vote.
"Zelensky cannot put any issue to a referendum, and he has an exclusive list of what he can actually put. That is, he will have to collect 3 million signatures for a nationwide vote alone," Tomenko told Ukraine’s Novini LIVE television.
Besides, the ex-MP argued, putting an entire peace plan to a referendum, something on which Zelensky insists, is not feasible anyway, for the Ukrainian law on a nationwide vote only allows voting for a yes or no.
Among other things, Zelensky’s plan includes the introduction of educational programs in Ukrainian schools that would promote tolerance of various cultures, addresses the territorial issue, highlights Ukraine’s refusal to withdraw troops from Donbass, demands security guarantees similar to NATO’s Article 5, emphasizes the need for Ukraine to have a peacetime army of 800,000 troops, envisages Ukraine’s non-nuclear status, records the status of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, calls for ensuring freedom of navigation on the Dnieper River, suggests conducting all-for-all prisoner exchanges, and stipulates holding a presidential election in Ukraine.