Administrative court judges trained on election legislation with OSCE support as Ukraine prepares for repeat vote in December

In preparation for a repeat election in Ukraine, fifty administrative court judges were trained in reviewing election-related disputes at a session organized by the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine and the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU) from 18 to 19 November 2013 in Kyiv.

The judges were from the regional and appeal administrative courts in Kyiv, Odessa,Mykolayiv and Cherkassy; districts where the results of the 2012 parliamentary elections were not confirmed. The repeat vote in those constituencies is scheduled to take place on 15 December 2013.

The training focused on international standards in election legislation, case-law of the European Court of Human Rights relevant to voting rights, legal challenges related to election campaigning, and judicial review of election-related disputes. Also, the case law of the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine regarding such disputes was analysed.

The event is part of an OSCE PCU project aimed at enhancing the consistency of administrative court practices in Ukraine. The project is being implemented at the request of the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine, with support from the Government of Norway.