Ukraine Fighting for Democracy Shall Protect the Exercise of Political Rights for Citizens – Aivazovska

The Electoral Code adopted in 2019 guarantees the accessibility of the election process for people with disabilities and low-mobility citizens. However, polling stations in Ukraine still remain non-inclusive, while the number of people with disabilities is growing due to Russian aggression against Ukraine, with infrastructure being destroyed. 

On August 19, 2024, Volodymyr Zelenskyi suggested establishing the Ministry of Unity. According to the President's plan, this institution should "bring back 7.5 million Ukrainians" who left abroad due to Russia's full-scale invasion and still stay there. If the ministry comes to life its team will face a difficult task: in addition to creating the necessary security conditions, they need to take care of housing, jobs, education and medical services for the returnees. If fighting continues, the process could drag on for years. 

Maintaining public trust in state institutions is of key importance in times of war, given that the lack of public confidence in the government contributes to societal polarization. Critical reporting and self-censorship by mass media are among the factors that have an impact on the level of public trust. Therefore, it is essential that every Ukrainian media outlet answers the question of what is the meaning of political process in a country without elections. This statement was made by the chair of the board of Civil Network OPORA Olha Aivazovska, who acted as a moderator of panel discussion “Media’s responsibility for achieving a sustainable society: mass media serving as the fourth estate” at the National Media Talk held on September 20, 2024.

Political rights are designed to enable the participation of citizens in the socio-political life of the country and the management of public affairs. They can be implemented in various forms, such as the engagement in the activities of political parties, participation in elections and referendums, peaceful assemblies, etc. Under special legal regimes, these rights can quite naturally be limited — that is why elections do not take place during martial law. Because of the need to effectively resist the aggressor, it is impossible to ensure compliance with international standards and principles of suffrage instrumental to the democratic elections, and indispensable for the elected government to be considered legitimate.

This is not the first year the OPORA Civil Network has been advocating changes in political finance, as well as engaging in surveys and awareness raising effort in this domain.

It is important to demonstrate the representative nature of the public demand to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to review the regulation prohibiting all female local council deputies from traveling abroad. Additionally, joint efforts should be consolidated for advocacy and combating sexism in electoral processes to ensure balanced representation of women and men in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and local councils.

Ukrainian citizens do not show a desire to personally participate in financing the activities of political parties and have no plans to do so.

The field stage of the study in the form of a survey was conducted by the sociological service of the Razumkov Center from March 21 to March 27, 2024, at the request of the Civil Network OPORA with the support of IFES in Ukraine. The face-to-face survey was conducted in Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi regions and the city of Kyiv (in Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv , Kherson regions — only in those territories that are government-controlled and where there is no fighting).

Olga Aivazovska, Chair of the Board of Civil Network OPORA, took part in the closed expert discussion "Democratic Challenges and Opportunities for Ukraine" held in June in Kyiv. Experts discussed the following topics: parliamentary reform and the code of ethics; challenges and risks of parliamentary and presidential elections in the current conditions; the balance between decentralization and centralization of power in wartime; the importance of media pluralism (countering disinformation; strategic communication of authorities as a prerequisite for fair elections); social cohesion and involvement of vulnerable groups in reconstruction and decision-making processes; protection of human rights in times of war: countering pressure and attacks on activists and journalists; gender-based violence.