Ukraine’s Central Election Commission hands over to Yushchenko signatures on NATO referendum

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Ukraine’s Central Election Commission (CEC) decided to hand over materials on signature collecting among Ukrainian citizens to hold a general referendum on Ukraine joining NATO and the United Economic Space to president of the country Viktor Yushchenko. Ukraine’s Central Election Commission head Yaroslav Davydovich made the announcement today at a news conference in Kiev, a REGNUM correspondent informs.

Besides, the CEC head noted that 224,509 of 4,656,182 signatures to support the general referendum on Ukraine joining NATO and the United Economic Space were pronounced void on various reasons. The final protocol and relevant documents of the examination of the lists will be handed over to the president in the near future. At the same time, according to Yaroslav Davydovich, it is impossible to hold the referendum without amending the current legislation. Besides, substantial financial resources are needed for the referendum that, according to the CEC head, were not envisaged neither by the Ukrainian Supreme Rada budget committee nor the finance ministry.