Disinformation, Unequal Access to Audiences, and the Vulnerability of Certain Groups Pose Threats to Post-war Elections

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.

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”

Those who were forced to leave Ukraine in 2022, even for just three and a half years, and have since returned, will not be eligible to stand as candidates in the next parliamentary elections until 2028 inclusive. This issue will also affect those who have ambitions or prospects of participating in political life as candidates in the presidential elections. This was outlined by Olha Aivazovska, Chair of the Board of the Civil Network OPORA, during the business breakfast “Guarantees of Women’s Political Participation and Voting Rights for Ukrainians Abroad” on 16 March.

The right to stand for election is part of the guarantees provided for in Article 3 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly emphasised that states have a wide margin of appreciation in establishing electoral rules, but such restrictions must not render the right illusory. Any requirements for candidates must have a legitimate aim and be proportionate.

On 27 February, representatives of the Civil Network OPORA presented to the members and secretariat of the Central Election Commission the concept of a comprehensive study aimed at updating the State Voter Register, which they plan to carry out in the coming six months.

The most popular Telegram channels in Ukraine systematically disseminate violent narratives. And although such messages are few in number, they appear virtually every day or every week. This was reported by Anastasiia Romaniuk, a digital platforms analyst at the Civil Network OPORA, during the presentation of the study “Aggression in the Digital World: Research on Violent Narratives in Popular Ukrainian Telegram Channels”, which took place on 18 February.

The issue of political financing is one of the indicators in the Roadmap, the implementation of which is necessary for Ukraine’s accession to the EU. This was stated by Olha Aivazovska, Chair of the Board of the Civil Network OPORA, during the roundtable “Reforming Legal Liability for Political Financing and Reporting”, which took place on 16 February in Kyiv.

Society must find an inclusive solution to ensure the right to vote and stand for election for key voter groups, primarily military personnel who are defending the state and the millions of internally displaced persons due to Russia’s full-scale invasion. Our partners express their full confidence that this will be achieved. This was stated by Oleksandr Korniienko, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, during the round table “Ensuring the realisation of electoral rights for specific groups of voters: challenges and prospects”, which took place in Kyiv on 5 February.