Specificity and Consequences of Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the 2020 Local Election in Ukraine

Abstract

The article examines the peculiarities of impact of the coronavirus pandemic on electoral process and voting results on the example of 2020 local elections in Ukraine. Using the complex of general scientific, logical and empirical methods, the peculiarities and problems of holding elections to local self-government bodies of Ukraine in 2020, which took place in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been emphasized, that Ukrainian authorities didn’t follow the path of most foreign countries and decided not to postpone the date of local elections in 2020. Instead, the main accent was put on the use of special mechanisms of protection for Ukrainian citizens from the spread of coronavirus infection during the process of holding local elections. The authors prove, that the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t have a significant negative impact on 2020 local elections in Ukraine and didn’t cause major violations, which would question the legitimacy and democracy of election procedures. At the same time, the lowest voter turnout was mainly caused by the pandemic: almost a third of Ukrainian voters did not appear at the polling stations precisely for reasons related to the pandemic. It is also outlined, that during the 2020 local elections in Ukraine, a row of other negative factors of impact on electoral process and its quality (except of the factors directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic) appeared: in particular, the problems with financial provisions for introducing special measures for voting during the COVID-19 pandemic; changing election rules (adopting the Electoral Code) on the eve of local elections; insufficient state information policy regarding the clarification of the peculiarities of holding elections under the new electoral system in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic.