The main aim of the project was to provide a proper legislative base for elections campaigns at different levels (local, parliamentary elections) and apply it to a national civic campaign of election observation in 2015. The ‘Maidan events’ during the winter 2013-14 led to a dramatic re-shifting of the political landscape in Ukraine as well as a change in the electoral schedule. These changes were incorporated into the project by bringing forward activities to 2014 such as training 1,500 observers across the country for the Presidential election on the 25 May 2014.
- Through the creation of the “map of violations” the public was informed about incidents and violations that happened during the elections. The voters had an option to report on bribery or any misconducts during the election process;
- A training program including offline seminars with experts, online study platform and designing of a handbook with the samples of facts and the methodological data on the tools of observation helped train responsible observers with specific knowledge leading to a professional monitoring of the election process;
- Thanks to the creation of a free mobile application, a number of information and visual materials the voters got to know more about their rights during the election campaign and elections. (e.g. how to change address, etc.);
- Sharing the observation report among EU institutions contributed to the overall assessment of the Presidential and Parliamentary elections by EU officials in Brussels;
- Most recommendations proposed by OPORA to the draft law of Ukraine “On Presidential elections” were voted on in Parliament;
- Regulations promoted by the Civil Network OPORA were adopted in the law “On local elections”;
- The organisation in cooperation with law enforcement bodies at national and local level has incorporated amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine regarding punishment for election violations;
- OPORA analysts designed recommendations to separate election laws that were lobbied for in the Parliament.