On December 4,DRI held a round table in Kyiv to present and discuss with the expert community its new report ‘Ukrainian Democratic Institutions During the Wartime. 2024 Interim assessment’. Despite the unprecedented challenges,the democratic institutions of Ukraine testify to their resilience and ability to adapt in the face of Russia’s military aggression. This is the key conclusion of the report prepared in cooperation with the Centre for Political and Legal Reforms and the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition.
However,is this margin of democratic safety sufficient to ensure further functioning of the political system and the state in conditions of war? Are there shaky links and threats to the full existence of the state and stable progress towards the EU? These and other important issues were discussed by the participants of the round table.
As early as 2022,DRI together with partners began work on assessing the functioning of democratic institutions of Ukraine during the war. The report that we are presenting is an interim one,and we plan to publish a more detailed assessment based on the results of 2024 soon, says Stanislav Lyachynskyi,director of DRI Ukraine.
Yuliya Kyrychenko,member of the board,head of the constitutional direction of the Centre for Political and Legal Reforms,co-chair of the Council of the RPR coalition,emphasized,Without the efficient functioning of the parliament after the full-scale invasion of Russia on February 24,2022,it was hardly possible to say that democracy was preserved in Ukraine. The main priority for us should continue to be ensuring the functioning of the parliament in all democratic procedures,which were established by the Constitution,before the invasion of Russia. Why do I emphasize this? Because every day it becomes an increasingly difficult task. Parliament has been working with extended powers for more than a year,solely because of Russia’s armed aggression. We don’t have an option for peaceful democracy – periodic elections.
According to her,We do not consider electronic voting as something that inspires confidence in the Ukrainian population. There is also a question of cyber security,which the state may not provide. Therefore,there is a risk of campaign failure or results that Ukrainians will not trust. Postal voting,according to sociology,Ukrainians don’t trust either.
For her part,Olga Lymar,executive director of the RPR Coalition,noted that The main conclusion we can draw from both last year’s report and this one: Ukraine,despite all the challenges and difficulties,despite the war,maintains itself as a democratic state. Holding or not holding elections is far from the main sign of democracy,there are many other tools that prove that Ukraine is a democratic state. In particular,how civil society organizations can cooperate with the state.
Please read the text of the report and its key conclusions on our website
The report was prepared within the framework of the project ‘Democratic Accession,Resilience and Engagement in Ukraine’,which is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented by DRI in cooperation with the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalitions and the Center for Political and Legal Reforms. The project is aimed at promoting the approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU norms,building a dialogue on the challenges of democracy in Ukraine during the war,and promoting the civic activism of young people. The report covers the period from autumn 2023 to summer 2024.