Dear partners and colleagues,

The Ukraine Citizen Action Network (UCAN) project invites civil society organizations, analytical centers, donors, and others to cooperate on an initiative to increase the accountability of government during the upcoming Parliamentary election campaign.

Taking into account that the re-elections are scheduled very soon (September 30th), there is an urgent need to combine efforts and expertise in analyzing election campaigns and to conduct post-election monitoring of government activities by organizing public events that would support free and transparent elections which, in turn, would increase the accountability of the newly elected Verkhovna Rada.

Prior to the president’s decree to dissolve parliament, the UCAN project, on March 23, 2007 together with an initiative group, held an all-Ukrainian conference “One Year after the Elections: Challenges to the Civil Society” where leading analysts and sociologists voiced concern over the absence of any mechanisms for holding members of government on all levels accountable for their actions and observed that Ukraine is sliding back to authoritarianism.

The report on the conference “One Year after Elections: Challenges to Civil Society”, took the form of a resolution that was approved by more than 100 conference participants, and several points of opinion from various speakers can be found (in Ukrainian only) here.

The working group from the conference now is working on several ideas such as, the conduct of public debates and as well as other events. If you are interested in taking part in working group meetings or if you have any proposals, please contact Yulia Yesmukhanova, UCAN Grant Program Officer, at Yulia@ucan-isc.org.ua or by phone (044) 494-4597.

The next working group meeting will be held on July 31st, 2007 at 16:00. Please, confirm your participation by e-mail Yulia@ucan-isc.org.ua or by phone (044) 494-4597. We look forward to meeting new participants and are open to fresh ideas.

With best regards,

The working group
Institute for a Competitive Society
Center for International Policy Studies
International Renaissance Foundation
UCAN Project
Ukraine Helsinki Union of Human Rights
Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research