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Back Council of Europe, CEC, IFES and OSCE to discuss the conduct of local elections in Ukraine

The Council of Europe, in co-operation with the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine, the OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is organising a post-election conference "Local Elections 2015: Lessons Learned and Recommendations" to be held in Kyiv on 16–17 December.

Aim of the event is to discuss the conduct of 2015 local elections in Ukraine and provide recommendations for future actions in particular on improving the current legal framework and practices in line with the fundamental values of Europe’s’ electoral heritage including the principle of universal, equal, free, secret and direct suffrage.

In this occasion, over hundred participants including MPs, representatives of Central and Territorial Electoral Commissions, public institutions, judiciary, political parties, elected candidates and civil society organisations will analyse the past local elections from several angles including implementation of the legal framework, advantages and disadvantages of the current electoral system, transparency of political party and campaign finance system, performance of the electoral administration and respect of voting rights for underrepresented groups and persons with special needs.

Local elections took place in fact in a difficult political, economic, humanitarian and security environment which did not allow conducting the voting in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. A number of factors such as a multifaceted and fragmented legal framework, influential economic groups and politicized media groups also had a significant impact on the conduct of elections as well as on citizen’s trust in the overall electoral process.

The conference is organised in the framework of Council of Europe’s project “Reform of the electoral practice in Ukraine” as part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2015 – 2017. The recommendations issued at the end of the conference will form the basis for the Council of Europe engagement in post-election assistance aimed at promoting compliance with organisation’s standards.