Despite Russia’s full-scale invasion and martial law, Ukraine has preserved its democracy. This is the key conclusion of the report “Review of Ukraine’s Democratic Institutions in Time of War. Interim Report – 2024”, says Olga Lymar, Executive Director of the RPR Coalition: “The main conclusion that we can draw from both last year’s report and this one: Ukraine, despite all the challenges and difficulties, despite the war, preserves itself as a democratic state. Holding or not holding elections is not the main sign of democracy; there are many other tools that prove that Ukraine is a democratic state. This includes how civil society organizations can cooperate with the state.”

On December 4, the team of Democracy Reporting International (DRI), the Center of Policy and Legal Reform, the RPR Coalition and the expert community presented the study “Review of Ukraine’s Democratic Institutions in Time of War. Interim Report – 2024”. The report analyzed the effectiveness of key democratic institutions: Parliament, Government, judiciary, local government, civil society and media. It also analyzed the issues of electoral legislation and human rights during the war. 

Among other things, Ukraine’s democracy is ensured by the sustainable operation of Ukrainian government institutions, including the Parliament. Yulia Kyrychenko, member of the Board of the Center of Policy and Legal Reform, said: “I would like the practice of preserving democracy during such a bloody, hateful war to remain only theoretical for the international community. I would like to note that, first of all, without the functioning of the parliament after the outbreak of a full-scale war, it would be difficult to say that democracy has been preserved in Ukraine.”

Striking a balance between protecting democratic principles and ensuring state security is an extremely difficult challenge. This balance is not permanent and needs to be constantly reviewed. Especially given Ukraine’s aspirations for European integration. That is why such reports will be needed in the future, summarized Stanislav Lyachynskyi, Director of Democracy Reporting International (DRI) in Ukraine: “The report is an interim one, i.e., a more detailed assessment will be given after a full calendar year. The challenges remain, and the need for such an assessment is only growing. Regardless of the development of events, this topic will remain relevant, and we will work on it together with our partners.”

For the readers of the RPR Coalition, we have prepared infographics with the key recommendations of the report’s authors on how to not only preserve but also strengthen our democracy.

Read the full report here.

The report was prepared by Democracy Reporting International (DRI) in cooperation with the Center of Policy and Legal Reform and the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition as part of the Democratic Integration, Resilience and Engagement (Ukraine-DARE) project with the financial support of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. The opinions and views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the position of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. The opinions and views of the experts do not necessarily reflect the position of the organizations mentioned in the report.