Local Elections, 25 October 2020
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Mission at a glance
Head of Mission: Ingibjörg Sólrún Gisladóttir
Core team of 16 experts from 15 OSCE participating States, based in Kyiv
Mission schedule
21 September: Arrival of the core team
27 September: Arrival of long-term observers
21 September: Arrival of the core team
27 September: Arrival of long-term observers
28 September: Briefing of long-term observers
29 September: Deployment of long-term observers throughout the country
25 October: Election day
26 October: Press conference on preliminary findings and conclusions
04 November: Departure of long-term observers
09 November: Departure of the core team
The mission calendar may be extended if ODIHR decides to observe a potential second round.
Ukraine 2020 local elections: ODIHR press conference
Following an invitation to observe the local elections in Ukraine scheduled for 25 October 2020, and in accordance with its mandate, ODIHR has deployed a Limited Election Observation Mission (LEOM) for these elections.
Long-term observation
The mission is led by Ingibjörg Sólrún Gisladóttir (Iceland) and consists of a core team of 16 experts based in Kyiv. In addition, 66 long-term observers will be deployed throughout the country from 29 September.
The mission will assess whether the elections are held in line with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation.
Observers will closely follow fundamental components of the elections such as:
- voter registration
- candidate registration
- campaign activities and financing
- media coverage of the campaign
- the work of the election administration and relevant government bodies
- election-related legislation and its implementation
- the resolution of election-related disputes
The ODIHR LEOM will also conduct qualitative and quantitative monitoring of media coverage of the election campaign.
Election day
While ODIHR originally requested 600 short-term observers to be deployed prior to the 25 October elections, the secondment and deployment of the requested number of short-term observers was not feasible due to the extraordinary circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent travel restrictions across the OSCE region. Therefore, ODIHR took the decision to change the format of the observation activity from an Election Observation Mission (EOM) to a Limited Election Observation Mission (LEOM).
While the mission will visit a limited number of polling stations on election day, systematic observation of voting, counting or tabulation of results on election day is not envisaged.
The day after the elections, ODIHR will issue a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions at a press conference. A final report on the observation including potential recommendations will be published approximately two months after the end of the election process.
Previous elections
ODIHR has previously deployed 13 observation activities in Ukraine since 1998, most recently to the 2019 presidential and early parliamentary elections.