On 6 October, the Council of Europe project “Strengthening democracy and building trust at local level in Ukraine” and the multi-donor programme “U-LEAD with Europe” held a webinar on “Local elections in Ukraine: Ensuring respect for electoral standards in times of pandemic”.

The online event was attended by the representatives of the programmes, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Mayor of Hürth (Germany), a representative of the Central Election Commission and the Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities. The participants discussed the challenges, best practices and measures needed to safeguard the integrity and the principles of free and fair local elections during the pandemic were in the focus of the meeting.

“Up to 1200 hromadas will receive informational materials on anti-COVID-19 measures for voters and members of local elections commissions. U-LEAD with Europe is at the moment preparing to deliver these materials to the amalgamated hromadas. In addition, we will organise together with the Centre for Public Health of Ukraine four online webinars on anti-epidemic measures during the preparation and conduction of local elections,” stated Bastian Veigel, GIZ Programme Director of U-LEAD with Europe.

Stewart Dickson, Member of Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, provided useful guidelines for authorities holding elections during a healthcare crisis. These guidelines were endorsed in the Congress report on “Local and regional elections in major crisis situations”, adopted by the Monitoring Committee on 17 September 2020.

Dirk Breuer, Mayor of Hürth (Germany), where elections were held three weeks ago, shared his own experience in organising the election process during the pandemic. Here are some measures that have ensured the safety of the elections in Hürth and, therefore, it could be useful for Ukraine:

1. The distance of 1.5 m between people in the polling stations
2. Entrance to the polling stations only in face masks
3. Permanent disinfection of the polling stations
4. Only four voters could be in the polling station at the same time

Andriy Hevko, Member of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, shared his expectations from the local race: “The upcoming elections should be held under the motto "Vote safely and responsibly"! We must ensure that voters are safe at the polls, and on the other hand, their responsible choices will affect the quality of life in their hromadas.” Andriy Hevko also showed CEC’s informational materials about these local elections: https://bit.ly/3d35hlz.

Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, told about features of providing municipalities with resources in preparation for local elections during a pandemic.