On the eve of 2020 local elections in Ukraine, the Central Election Commission conducted a large-scale informational and awareness-raising campaign as part of the “CEC: prosvita” (available in Ukrainian only) project, which was developed with the support of and in cooperation with the Council of Europe*.

On 21 September 2020, the Central Election Commission together with the Council of Europe launched an awareness-raising project – an interactive online educational platform about elections “CEC: prosvita". The project was intended to demonstrate that every vote matters, and that every vote determines the future of an individual, a community and a country as a whole. The purpose of the “CEC: prosvita” is to help Ukrainians to make an informed choice, as well as to get acquainted with the basic principles of democratic and fair elections, the peculiarities of the electoral process in Ukraine and around the world, to enhance their knowledge about electoral rights and obligations, and to learn about new local elections rules and procedures.

Currently, there are two online courses available on the platform – "Elections in simple terms" (available in Ukrainian only) and "Local elections for voters" (available in Ukrainian only), as well as some awareness-raising and educational materials about various aspects of the electoral process for voters, for election commissioners, election observers, candidates and other participants of the electoral process. In 2020, local elections were in the focus of awareness-raising and educational materials.

Within three months since the launch of the "CEC: prosvita" online platform, it reached more than 180,000 views from all over Ukraine, and more than 80,000 Internet users became active users of the platform.

The "CEC: prosvita" Youtube-channel (available in Ukrainian only) was created with a view to reach the widest audience possible. Various awareness-raising and educational videos are published there. Since its creation, about 3,060 users have subscribed to the “CEC: prosvita” Youtube-channel and respective videos got more than 11 million views.

Under the umbrella of the “CEC: prosvita” project, the Central Election Commission, with the support of and in cooperation with the Council of Europe and other international partners, conducted a large-scale awareness-raising campaign on the eve of the 2020 local elections. The following materials were prepared and disseminated: infographics, the “CEC about elections” chatbot, informational videos on voting procedures within COVID-19 restrictions, motivational posters and posters on anti-epidemic measures at a polling station, manuals, guidelines and educational videos for territorial and precinct election commissioners. The promotion of the “CEC: prosvita” awareness-raising materials received a record total of more than 55 million views via the platform, the CEC and partners’ websites, in social media, through radio broadcasts and on national and regional TV channels. Herewith, awareness-raising activities conducted with the support of the Council of Europe project “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine”, including infographic materials, a series of webinars “Local elections 2020: essentials plain and uncovered” and 10 radio programmes about local election rules and regulations, contributed to the media outreach of more than 13.9 million voters.

More details about the results achieved in 2020 within the framework of the informational and awareness-raising campaign "CEC: prosvita" can be found in the informational leaflet (available in English and Ukrainian).

*The cooperation with the Central Election Commission of Ukraine is carried out within the framework of the Council of Europe project "Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine", implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan 2018-2022.