Elections in Ukraine: exclusive online-talk of the PACE President Tiny Kox with Olga Aivazovska, Head of the Civil Network “OPORA”*

O.A.: Ukraine is already an electoral democracy. We had the experience of organizing free and fair elections between 2014 and 2020. Can European standards be implemented during martial law and the hot phase of war? How long does it usually take after the war to prepare for free and fair elections? 

T.K.: It is clear that your Constitution does not allow to organize elections when martial law is applicable. That is the situation. So, at this moment, your country is not allowed to organize elections. That is clear, and I do not want to have any misunderstanding on that. On the other hand, Ukraine as a full-fledged member of the Council of Europe, is, of course, a democracy. And although democracy is far more than only elections, I think we all agree that without the elections, democracy cannot properly function. What I want to say to the Government and the Parliament and the people of Ukraine – it is in your hands to decide whether and when elections will take place. As long as martial law is there and your Constitution is as it is, there will not be elections. But at a certain moment, there will be elections. And my advice is to start preparing for it as soon as possible. Because I think everybody in Ukraine agrees that in the end, it's the people of Ukraine that decide on who is representing them in the Parliament and in the Government. As long as your Government and Parliament think that they should follow the Constitution, then no elections are possible. But of course, it's in the hand of your Government and your Parliament to perhaps amend the Constitution and make it possible that martial law is lifted during a certain moment of time, or, in another way, elections are allowed. What I want to say is, don't leave it in the hands of the Russian aggressor, whether or when you will have elections. Because it's clear, on the basis of the now existing laws in Ukraine, you cannot have elections. And it's also clear that only when the war ends, this martial law can then be lifted. But it is, of course, the Russians who have to leave your country. And I do not want them to decide whether and when your Government and your Parliament want to have elections. That is up to the people, the Parliament, and the Government of Ukraine. And I think it's completely obvious that these elections, if and when they take place, will be extremely difficult. Extremely difficult and an enormous challenge for the whole of Ukraine. So my advice is to start preparing for it as soon as possible. And the Council of Europe has a lot of means to assist the Parliament, the Government, and the people of Ukraine to organize elections at a moment that your Constitution allows it and at the moment that your country is ready to do so. But don't leave it to the Russian aggressor to decide when you will have elections. That would be my message. And again, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe as a whole are more than ready to help you. In the past, Ukraine has shown that it's able to organize elections in difficult circumstances. For example, during COVID, your Government, with the support of the Central Election Commission, managed to organize elections**. We all know that it was very, very difficult, but you managed. So, my appeal to you is to be creative. See if there are means in the future based on democratic decision making by your Government and your Parliament to start preparing elections and perhaps allow elections. But again, your Constitution is leading, nobody should rule and act against the Constitution. 

O.A.: Various voting methods are used worldwide but one of the exotic and yet to be widespread is e-voting: Do you see the risk of introducing electronic voting without pilot tests, especially for post-war elections in Ukraine? 

T.K.: Thank you for that question. Indeed, e-voting is a possibility. I think that the Council of Europe is the only international organization that has developed a set of standards for e-voting. But of course, it's up to the Government and the Parliament and the Central Election Commission of a country to decide whether to apply it because it has its advantages. It makes it possible that people who cannot reach a physical ballot box can nevertheless vote. But of course, it also has its disadvantages. The technology is still disputed, and it is up to the national authorities and especially the Central Election Commission to decide whether it's safe enough to cast your votes by e-voting. Again, the Council of Europe is not there to say which method that you have to use. That's fully in the hands of the democracy of Ukraine. But if you use e-voting then we advise you to apply the set of standards that has been developed by the Council of Europe to make e-voting as fair and free as possible. But again, it is a possibility, but also in that case it will be an enormous challenge for a country that is under war or has just been able to end a war to organise elections. But at the same time, also your Prime Minister, during our recent conference in Reykjavik with the leaders of all the other 45 member States, of course, confirmed that we have to fulfil our obligations towards democracy. And that means that we have to organise regular elections. And in the case of Ukraine, it is clear, as I said, as long as your Constitution does not allow it, you will not have elections. It's in the hands of your Parliament and Government to decide whether to amend the Constitution. But I would advise you to start preparing and perhaps also start preparing voting by e-voting. But again, that's completely in the hands of your authorities and your Parliament. 

O.A.: How serious are the security policies of the PACE, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, election observation missions and was there any experience observing elections during the war? Because it's important to think not just about candidates and political parties, but about those who are going to give us advice, were those elections free and fair or not? 

T.K.: Thank you for that question. And of course, again, whether there will be elections during the war, it's completely in the hands of your Parliament and your Government and your Central Election Commission. But if we send our observation mission to observe your elections, there will be the same protocol that we use for our staff for our field missions that is already now in Ukraine, that we use for our rapporteurs who come and visit your country on a regular basis. And it also will be applied when, if and where we send an observation mission. We are completely clear that also from our side it will be extremely difficult to do our work. But our difficulties, if compared to the difficulties that you, your Government, your Parliament, your Central Election Commission and your citizens will engage, are far bigger than ours. And of course, always if we come and visit a country, we do that in close cooperation with the authorities. So, security has to be there, and the protocols that we have will be applied. 

O.A.: Thank you very much for this short interview, because this clarity in this time was very important for us and hope that experts’ groups in Ukraine and outside will continue work on the rules and potential forms of realization of electoral rights of Ukrainian citizens after the end of war for having free and fair elections without any manipulations, rumours and so on and so forth. So, thank you for your support. And I believe that Ukraine and the Council of Europe will continue work on the best practices in Ukraine compared to the previous times, which are very important after the end of the war. 

T.K.: And perhaps I can add, yes, the war should end as soon as possible, and it ends when Russia stops this illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and withdraws all its troops from Ukrainian territory. That is the thing that should be in our mind every day, and it's up to the Ukrainian people to decide if, when, and under which conditions they want to use their democracy. 

*The online talk was organised with the support of the Council of Europe project “Supporting democratic post-war elections in Ukraine” implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023 – 2026 

**Local elections held on 25 October 2020