Ukrainian Interior Ministry ready to ensure holding of local elections at highest level – Avakov

Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said this during a meeting dedicated to the preparation for the local elections to be held in the autumn of 2020, the Interior Ministry's press service reported.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the National Police, the Office of the President and the OPORA civil network.

“The Interior Ministry is ready to ensure law and order in terms of electoral legislation to the highest standards. We have the relevant experience of previous years, when the work of law enforcement officers during the electoral process was highly appreciated, and the election process itself received the highest ratings from the European community - in terms of compliance with all democratic standards,” Avakov said.

The meeting participants discussed the issues of improving the electoral legislation, eliminating attempts to illegally influence the electoral process. They also analyzed a number of cases of first violations and coordination of efforts to counter such attempts.

According to the head of the OPORA civil network, Olha Aivazovska, one of the important points of amendments to the Electoral Code should be a reduction of the duration of the policing of voting premises, which now lasts eight days. “This makes no sense, because in fact the police will guard the empty voting premises,” she said.

As reported, local elections in Ukraine will be held on October 25. Citizens will elect members to local councils, as well as the mayor of Kyiv and governors of almost all cities, villages and territorial communities.

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