On 9 – 10 December 2020, about 50 speakers in Kyiv and Kramatorsk studios, as well as online, took part in 7 thematic panel discussions within the framework of the V Local self-governance forum “Efficient local self-government as a background of democratic and rule-of-law state”*. During the forum, one of the panel discussions was devoted to the organisation and conduct of the 2020 local elections in Ukraine.
On 9 December 2020, during the panel discussion “Local elections 2020: monitoring and recommendations for Ukraine”, the forum participants discussed the results of the monitoring conducted by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, the results of civic monitoring of the local elections and civic media monitoring held with the support of the Council of Europe. Among the invited speakers, there were:
● Stewart DICKSON, Thematic Spokesperson of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe on observation of local and regional elections;
● Vitaliy PLUKAR, Deputy Chair of the Central Election Commission;
● Alexander KLIUZHEV, Senior Analyst of the Civil Network “OPORA”;
● Oleksiy KOSHEL, Director General of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine;
● Diana DUTSYK, Expert of the Project “European Union and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine”, Executive Director of CSO “Ukrainian Institute of Media and Communication”;
● Nataliya BOROVSKA, Co-ordinator of the election observation of Civil Network "OPORA" in the Donetsk oblast;
● Tatiana TYURINA, Head of the Information and Public Communications Directorate of the Donetsk Oblast State Administration;
● Natalia CHUKOVA, Head of Local Government Reform Department, Economic Directorate of Donetsk Oblast State Administration.
Stewart Dickson commented on the main results of the local elections monitoring by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe: “As our 2020 local elections observation mission was limited, we did not make formal recommendations to the Committee of Ministers, however we prepared the information report, where included the suggestions for improvement, and this can be a good starting point for further work of the Congress with our partners in Ukraine. The report states that the elections were held in an extraordinary situation not only because of the pandemic, but also because of the process of decentralization, constitutional reform and changes to the electoral legislation, which fundamentally changed the electoral system. Many of our interlocutors said that these were probably the most difficult elections ever organised in Ukraine. But it is worth noting that the previous recommendations of the Congress were taken into account to some extent”.
During the discussion, Vitaliy Plukar, Deputy Head of the Central Election Commission, mainly positively assessed the process of the 2020 local elections and stated: “An important component of the election process was an awareness raising and educational activities and information support of the elections. In my opinion, NGOs and our international partners played a rather huge role, actively participating in information work and to some extent helping to understand the new ballot paper, particularly, to voters, how to fill it in, informing about the rules and procedures related to the election process”.
It is worth mentioning that this year, with the support of the Council of Europe project “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine”, the Central Election Commission developed and launched an online awareness raising platform "CEC: prosvita", as well as two interactive online courses about elections placed thereon: “About elections in simple terms” and “About local elections for voters”. 40 training modules were developed within the two courses and contained educational videos and dialogues with the participation of known Ukrainian and world figures. In particular, within the framework of the “CEC: prosvita”, the Council of Europe supported the Central Election Commission in developing 129 infographic materials on issues related to local elections and the electoral process which reached more than 1 million Ukrainians. In total, the Council of Europe project “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine”, contributed to the dissemination of awareness raising materials on election issues among more than 11.6 million Ukrainians.
* The Forum on local self-governance has been organised for the fifth consecutive year by the Council of Europe together with the Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Building, Local Governance, Regional and Urban Development, the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk Oblast State Administrations. The Forum is organised by the Council of Europe within the framework of the programme “Enhancing decentralisation and public administration reform in Ukraine” with the support of the projects “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine”; “Strengthening democracy and building trust at local level in Ukraine”; “Internal Displacement in Ukraine: Building Solutions”; “Promoting social human rights as a key factor of sustainable democracy in Ukraine.”
The Council of Europe project “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine” is implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine for 2018-2022 and aims to enhance the political and legal culture of voters, the ability of public authorities to organise and conduct elections in accordance with the European electoral standards and good practices, as well as strengthen the capacity of women, young voters, national minorities to actively participate in political and public decision-making processes.
