The MEDIA CENTRE hosted a press conference on the topic "Elections in Ukraine. International perspective and recommendations" on 25 October.

International experts discussed the local elections in Ukraine. Stefanie Schiffer (Head of the Secretariat of European Platform for Democratic Elections) emphasised that the new law on elections was pushed through quickly and didn't result from a transparent public discussion. According to her, a high threshold of 5% makes it difficult for new political parties to obtain council seats.

Seema Shah (Programme Officer Electoral Processes at International IDEA) pointed on the importance of a fair and democratic election process. “It is critically important that voters believe in the fairness of the election process and in the election results. Civil society can actively participate in ensuring the transparency of the elections. We can take Turkey as an example, where voters have been using Twitter to inform each other on the course of elections,” Shah said.

Francois Friederich (Head of the Division of Electoral Assistance and Census of the Council of Europe) said that the Council of Europe will present its findings on the local elections in Ukraine this December. "The Council of Europe will continue its activities after the elections in order to improve the electoral practice. This is part of the Council of Europe's action plan for Ukraine which runs until 2017," Friederich elaborated. The Council of Europe also plans to organize a conference with its local and international partners to assess their activities in providing electoral assistance.