On 17 March 2020, the Central Election Commission of Ukraine established a working group to explore the possibilities of introduction of new technologies in Ukrainian electoral process. Headed by the CEC member, Mr. Sergiy Postivyi, the group involves up to 20 representatives of the Central Election Commission, the State Registry of Voters, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, representatives of law-enforcement and other national authorites, experts of non-governmental and international organizations.
The work of the group is focused on several directions:
- international experience of new technologies’ use in elections;
- digital solutions for election management;
- e-identification of voters;
- e-voting, e-counting and e-tabulation of election results;
- digital solutions for electoral education and public awareness raising.
Considering COVID-19 preventive measures, several meetings and group discussions have already been held with the use of available online platforms.
Within the framework of this group and beyond, the Council of Europe provides its expert support* to the Central Election Commission of Ukraine in order to ensure that any digital solution being considered for further introduction into Ukrainian electoral legislation and practice fully meets the international electoral standards, particularly the Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2017)5 on e-voting. Upon the CEC request, respective researches and studies have already been commissioned, namely, on the use and streamlined functioning of e-registers for electoral matters and on regulatory framework for digital technologies used in the electoral cycle.
*The expert support is provided by the Council of Europe project “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine”, implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018 – 2021.
