Draft Law to Keep Local Councils Functional During the War: Legal Analysis

On September 16, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted as a basis Draft Law No. 14405 on Ensuring the Authority of Local Councils under Martial Law. The draft law is designed to address a problem that small communities in particular may face during the full-scale war. As council members’ powers are terminated early, councils gradually shrink, yet elections to fill the vacant seats cannot be held under martial law. As a result, a council may no longer be able to reach a quorum and make the decisions its community needs.

The bill introduces a special mechanism that would allow such councils to keep working if no more than half, but no fewer than one-third, of their total membership remains. During revisions, the provision that would have automatically triggered the establishment of a military administration solely because a council’s membership had shrunk was removed from the text.

Why a separate law is needed

Draft Law No. 14405 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on January 27, 2026. Its initiators include MP Oleksandr Korniienko and a group of other lawmakers. On September 1, the bill was placed on the parliamentary agenda, and on September 10, the relevant committee reconsidered it and recommended adopting it as a basis and as a whole in a single vote.

The problem the bill seeks to solve stems directly from the war and the impossibility of holding local elections under martial law. When a council member’s powers are terminated early in a community with 10,000 or more voters, the vacant seat may, under certain conditions, pass to the next candidate on the party list. However, for members of village, settlement, and city councils in communities with fewer than 10,000 voters who were elected in multi-member constituencies, the Electoral Code requires by-elections. Elections are prohibited under martial law.

According to the CEC’s Local Elections information and analytical system, as of November 23, 2025, 9,106 local council members had had their powers terminated early or had never assumed office — 21.1% of all seats won in the 2020 local elections. For small communities, any further decline in the number of council members creates a risk of failing to reach a quorum both at plenary meetings and in standing committees.

What the bill proposes

The special rules will apply to village, settlement, and city councils in communities with fewer than 10,000 voters whose members were elected in the 2020 local elections under the plurality system in multi-member constituencies, and whose membership has fallen below the level required for a council to function normally.

The key change is that a council will retain its authority if, after the early termination of some members’ powers, between one-third and one-half of its members, inclusive, remain in office. If one-third of the total membership is not a whole number, the required number of members will be rounded up to the next whole number.

The draft law also sets out specific rules for convening sessions and making decisions in such councils. The special regime will remain in effect for the duration of martial law and, after martial law is terminated or lifted, until the first session of the council elected at the next local elections.

Another set of changes concerns council members serving in the military. The revised text provides that requirements for participating in council work, and the consequences of missing meetings, will not apply to members of village, settlement, and city councils who are performing military service during mobilization, under contract, or following the call-up of reservists. Military service in itself will not terminate a member’s powers.

The draft law also allows the procedures for council members’ reporting to be adapted to security conditions. In particular, a council will be able to determine how members report and how their reports are published if complying with the standard requirements poses risks to physical safety.

What changed in response to comments on the draft law

One of the most contentious parts of the bill concerned how many members must remain on a council for it to continue working.

The Main Research and Expert Department of the Verkhovna Rada Secretariat pointed out that the original approach needed to be reconciled with the principle of collegiality in local self-government. Following revisions, the Committee proposed defining the limits of the exceptional mechanism more precisely: it will apply when no more than half, but no fewer than one-third, of the council’s members remain.

At the same time, it was proposed to remove the provision under which a council’s membership falling below half would automatically serve as grounds for establishing a military administration in the locality.

Losing some council members as a result of the war should not in itself mean that a community automatically loses a functioning local self-government body, as long as the council retains the minimum necessary representation and the ability to make decisions collegially.

For communities, it is critical that the war and the unavoidable decline in council membership do not lead to a situation where a council exists on paper but in practice cannot make budget, social, land, recovery, and other decisions on which the community’s life depends.

However, the exceptional rules needed under martial law must remain strictly limited in scope and duration. Lowering the threshold at which a council retains its authority must not become a general rule beyond the circumstances for which this mechanism is being created.

Likewise, adapting the requirements for council members’ reporting to security risks must not mean abandoning accountability itself. If a public event, advance notice of its venue, or another traditional format poses risks, the community should use safe alternatives that still allow voters to learn about their representatives’ work.

Our recommendations

Transparent Cities considers it advisable to support Draft Law No. 14405 as revised. However, when it is finally adopted and put into practice, it is important to preserve several fundamental safeguards:

• the special procedure should apply only to local councils that meet the criteria set out in the law and cannot fill vacant seats because elections cannot be held under martial law;
• the lower threshold of one-third of the council’s total membership should remain in place as a safeguard ensuring that the council stays capable of making decisions;
• council members performing military service should be protected from the negative consequences of failing to perform duties they are physically unable to fulfill because of their service;
• security-related exceptions for reporting should change its form, not abolish the principle of council members’ accountability to voters.

Because of the war, the early termination of council members’ powers, and the impossibility of holding elections, some small communities risk being left with councils that cannot function properly. The proposed mechanism should allow these communities to maintain functioning local self-government, ensure continuity in decision-making, protect the rights of council members serving in the Defense Forces, and adapt certain council procedures to wartime conditions.