"Peace agreed upon," declared The Washington Times on September 28, 1938. By now, we should have learned: deals with predator states bent on conquest – whether Nazi Germany then or Russia today – don't buy peace; they invite war. In the last century, Europe didn't avert disaster; it sleepwalked straight into the deadliest conflict in humanity's history. 

Civil Network OPORA initiated a joint statement on the impossibility of holding democratic elections without the sustainable peace. In less than a day, more than 250 non-governmental organizations of the national and local levels signed this document. The signees include the specialized associations working on socio-political issues; human rights movements; communities of internally displaced persons, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups; regional organizations, and ambassadors of the Ukrainian position internationally.

Any peace process should take into account Ukraine's voice and a logical sequence of actions to restore electoral cycles: 1) a sustainable ceasefire under the security guarantees of the guarantor countries; 2) preparation for elections and restoration of the relevant infrastructure; 3) holding elections after sustainable peace is achieved, martial law is lifted, and the war is settled internationally. 

Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine, ongoing since 2014, has resulted in a significant displacement of people seeking safety within Ukraine. According to the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons”, adopted in 2014, an internally displaced person (hereinafter referred to as IDP) is a citizen of Ukraine, a foreigner or a stateless person who is legally present on the territory of Ukraine and has the right to permanent residence in Ukraine and who has been forced to leave or abandon their place of residence as a result of or in order to avoid the negative consequences of armed conflict, temporary occupation, widespread violence, human rights violations, and natural or man-made emergencies. 

This document is intended to draw the attention of our partners and stakeholders to the primary tasks and priority steps for the preparation of postwar elections. Civil Network OPORA has prepared its own expert vision of electoral process, which takes into account the results of previous professional discussions with official parties (Verkhovna Rada, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Central Election Commission). OPORA calls on the Parliament to hold substantive discussions in order to find systemic solutions, given the need to lay a critical amount of groundwork for the organization of postwar elections before the repeal of martial law. The success of preparation of legislative framework, prevention of Russian interference in the postwar elections, and integration into the European Union directly depend on a depoliticized high-quality discussion.

An open appeal by Ukrainian public figures to the world leaders and the international community. The document is signed by more than 160 persons, including human rights activists, MPs, diplomats, academics, famous artists, leaders of the largest business associations and various religious communities (Christian, Muslim and Jewish). The appeal, entitled "Do not appease evil" highlights the Ukrainian vision of Russia’s far-reaching subversive objectives, and depicts the positive and the negative scenarios of the war’s end that depend on the position of the world leaders and the international community.

Russia is interfering with elections in democracies all over the world, resorting to any means, from cyberattacks to direct voter bribery, from sharing disinformation and disrupting society to discrediting candidates who are “unacceptable” for the Russian government. Contrariwise, they support politicians or parties ready to cooperate with the Putin's regime.

We embraced a huge number of challenges that have become the norm, and we have been living in this threatening environment for a long time. Nevertheless, our attitude towards the State is evolving, and so does the State’s attitude towards the society, the people, and an individual.