On 26-28 November 2018, training of trainers (ToT) on "Election Dispute Resolution" training course for judges was co-organized by the Council of Europe's Office in Ukraine* and the National School of Judges of Ukraine.
20 judges from administrative judiciary, being trainers of regional training centres of the National School of Judges of Ukraine, passed the training.
In his welcome remarks, Marten Ehnberg, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, pointed out the urgency of this training course for Ukraine and the necessity to increase the confidence of Ukrainian citizens in election process and elections results.
Natalia Shuklyna, Deputy Rector of the National School of Judges of Ukraine, noted in her opening remarks that this training course is extremely important for judges of administrative justice considering that Presidential and Parliamentary elections should be held in Ukraine in 2019.
The training course includes such topics as "International standards and principles of democratic elections", "Overview of national electoral legislation. Classification of electoral disputes during the election process", "Peculiarities of proceedings in cases on electoral rights and referendum under the Code on administrative proceedings of Ukraine" and "The case law of the ECtHR in electoral matters". Practical recommendations on how to cover the above mentioned topics were made by the Council of Europe experts Yuriy Kliuchkovskyi and Sergiy Kalchenko, and by the lawyer of the ECtHR Registry Dmytro Tretyakov.
Many interactive forms of training were applied during the ToT.
The training course was developed by a group of experienced judges having been trainers of the National School of Judges of Ukraine and its regional centres for a long time: Judge of the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine in retirement, the course director and head of the group of developers Mykhailo Tsurkan, Judge Oleksandr Zinchenko from Donetsk District Administrative Court, Judge Larysa Trofimova from Cherkasy District Administrative Court, Judge Olena Gubska from Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal, Judge Ganna Samoiluk from Odessa Regional Administrative Court, as well as Ruslana Arlanova, leading scientific officer of the National School of Judges of Ukraine.
The training course on "Election Dispute Resolution" is expected to be frequently delivered by the regional centres of the National School of Judges of Ukraine for the training of judges on the eve and in the process of future presidential, parliamentary and local elections.
*The training course was developed by the National School of Judges of Ukraine with the support of the Council of Europe projects on "Supporting constitutional and legal reforms, constitutional justice and assisting the Verkhovna Rada in conducting reforms aimed at enhancing its efficiency" and "Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine" within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021.
