OPORA Held International Workshop on Voter Register Accuracy in Six Countries

The study demonstrates the significant impact of the war on migration patterns and highlights citizens’ demand for the protection of their voting rights. It is critical to be prepared for the first post-war elections by comprehensively updating the State Voter Register, and by creating appropriate and non-discriminatory conditions for the exercise of the active voting rights of citizens residing outside their place of registration, both in the country, and abroad.

The State Voter Register is often perceived as a purely technical database necessary for organising elections. In reality, however, it is an institutional reflection of the demographic state of society, its mobility, and the state’s ability to interact with its citizens. Any changes in the structure of the population — internal and external migration, the consequences of war, socio-economic transformations — are reflected in the Register in one way or another.

Representatives of the government and the civic sector state that the response to these risks must begin now. During the OPORA forum on March 23, they outlined the necessary steps, ranging from ensuring voting accessibility to regulating the information space and countering foreign interference. Experts discussed these issues during the public panel: “Political rights must be protected, and all categories of citizens must receive equal mechanisms for realizing the principles and standards of free elections. How to avoid politicizing the human rights agenda in the first post-war elections.”

There will be enough votes in Parliament for the law on the first post-war elections in Ukraine once all seven working subgroups reach a consensus on a range of issues: residency requirement, the article defining the right to run for office, voting for Ukrainians abroad, and others. This opinion was expressed by Olena Shuliak, MP and Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development, and Urban Planning, during the panel discussion “System Resilience and the Resilience System for Organizing Protected and Fair Elections” at the OPORA’s forum “Challenges of Electoral Democracy Caused by the Great War” on March 23.

How to ensure that servicemen and servicewomen can fully exercise their right to vote and be elected, as well as how to protect the electoral process from Russian interference—these were the topics discussed during a public debate at the forum “Key Challenges of Electoral Democracy Caused by the Great War,” held by the Civil Network OPORA on March 23 in Kyiv.

Civil Network OPORA held a forum titled “Key Challenges of Electoral Democracy after the Great War” on March 23. The opening remarks were delivered by Andrew Ockenden, Development Director and Head of the Programmes Team at the UK Government at the British Embassy in Ukraine; Gediminas Navickas, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine; and Oleksandr Korniienko, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

Keynote speech address by Olha Aivazovska, Chair of the Board of the Civil Network OPORA, at the Forum “Challenges to Electoral Democracy After the Great War,” held in Kyiv on March 23.

The civil network OPORA, with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), has successfully completed the second wave of the Electoral Integrity Academy training programme. Over the course of several months, the initiative brought together civil society activists, analysts and civil servants to seek effective solutions for preserving democratic institutions. The training consisted of three intensive stages, each of which explored a separate aspect of electoral processes.

PROGRAM of the FORUM of the Civil Network OPORA “Key Challenges of Electoral Democracy after the Great War”