14 trainers of Civil Network OPORA will train patrol police officers and investigators of the National Police during early parliamentary elections.

On June 12-13, OPORA held a training for trainers who will teach law enforcement officers in all regions of Ukraine and the city of Kyiv.

"This training was attended by individuals involved in practical monitoring of electoral processes, both lawyers and professional monitors. During this event, they are trying to summarize the challenges faced by law enforcement officers, and directly by monitors, journalists and other electoral subjects. These are the challenges related to the principles and standards of good election administration. Based on this summarized experience, we are developing a practical training program for law enforcement officers, preventive police and investigators, dealing with offenses directly related to electoral law," - said Maxym Yeligulashvili, an expert on development of interactive training program for the police.

According to Andrii Tokarskyi, Director of the Efficient Police Guaranteeing Legitimate Electoral Process Project, realized by OPORA, the training will be conducted by 7 groups of OPORA's trainers, which are competent in the electoral law. Trainings start on June 19 and will last until July 6th.  

He also noted that trainings before the presidential election were quite effective.

"Many police officers could respond more effectively to one or another violation, and even to classify it. Therefore, we see that the first wave of trainings was quite effective and we believe that police will be able to work more efficiently during the parliamentary campaign," - he said.

"Presidential and parliamentary election campaigns are not identical. They both have peculiarities, which we will explain on police trainings. One should also understand that campaigns will be more local-oriented, since the majority system is preserved. Thus, most of activities will occur on local level", - Andrii Tokarskyi added.

It is planned to train 1700 law enforcement officers on trainings.

For comment, please contact:

Andrii Tokarskyi, Director of the Efficient Police Guaranteeing Legitimate Electoral Process Project at Civil Network OPORA

Tel.: +38067 913 15 05

e-mail: [email protected]

Note: This initiative is realized by Civil Network OPORA All-Ukrainian NGO under project “Strengthening legislative and electoral processes through an increased citizen engagement and technical assistance”, implemented by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and British assistance from the UK Government. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of British Government.