UCCA and UWC To Monitor Ukraine’s Local Elections
On Sunday, October 25th, the citizens of Ukraine will be casting ballots for local legislators throughout the country. Held under a new electoral law, whereby the role of local officials has been significantly enhanced due to recent decentralization reforms, deputies of district councils, rural township and city mayors will be elected.
In light of the upcoming local elections, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), together with the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC), is seeking volunteers to serve as international election observers. Given the worldwide pandemic, and various travel restrictions, the Election Observation Mission (EOM) will rely mainly on expats already residing in Ukraine.
In an effort to cover as much territory as possible, UCCA will coordinate its efforts with the UWC; the EOM will be co-chaired by both organizations. UCCA President Andriy Futey and Borys Wrzesnewskyj, former Member Parliament of Canada’s House of Commons, will co-chair the effort, while Tamara Olexy, UWC Regional Vice President – UCCA Executive Director, will serve as Mission Coordinator. Long-time UCCA International Election Monitor, Reno Domenico will serve as UCCA’s Chief Observer, and Natalia Nemyliwska, Director of UWC Economic Prosperity and Investment Committee, will serve as UWC Chief Observer.
What makes this joint UCCA/UWC EOM unique is that it is made up of all volunteers – individuals who are committed to Ukraine’s democratic progress and who cover all their expenses related to their participation in the mission.
The EOM will hold a mandatory (virtual) training for its observers prior to the elections. The briefing will include instruction on how to operate UCCA’s on-line election assessment form – the only one of its kind; provide a special seminar on hostile environment training; review the newly adopted election law and COVID-related safety protocols; and, provide tips on how best to serve as international election monitors.
The UCCA/UWC program will also coordinate in-country travel and lodging, translators and guides if necessary, provide official CEC accreditation, and comprehensive informational packets. International Election Observer volunteers will be responsible for all costs associated with their participation in the Mission.
The goal of the EOM is to support an open and transparent electoral process in Ukraine. UCCA/UWC support Ukraine’s commitment to OSCE standards for free and fair elections that accurately reflect the will of the electorate, and does not support any one candidate, political party or bloc.
UCCA & UWC expect to release their findings at a virtual press conference following the local elections. The findings will be based on in-depth analytics of the new electoral law and unique challenges of the pandemic, as well as on our methodology that provides for a contribution by each observer/observer team that is designed to achieve an overall picture of Ukraine’s election-day proceedings. UCCA uses a one-of-a-kind electronic questionnaire that provides an overall profile of polling-station activity throughout the country, from which we draw conclusions based on our collective experience.
Should you like to volunteer for the UCCA/UWC Mission, please contact Viktoria Hubska in Kyiv at open.ukraine@ukr.net, Tamara Olexy at tolexy@ucca.org, or elections@ukrainianworldcongress.org.
Note: UCCA/UWC encourage everyone to carefully consider the risks related to COVID-19 before applying for this volunteer role, including the current situation in Ukraine and risks related to travel.
Source: UCCA