In the aftermath of Ukraine’s 2019 presidential election, the country’s international partners may be reflecting upon the most recent chapter in Ukraine’s political development since the EuroMaidan Revolution that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power on Feb. 22, 2014.
With President Petro Poroshenko being rebuked by the vast majority of Ukrainian voters in favor of a political outsider who ran a strong anti-establishment campaign, many voters were left wondering what achievements had been made since the revolution. While more than 70 percent of Ukrainian voters felt the country was going in the wrong direction in the months leading up to the election, the view from Ukraine’s regions is far different. To look at democratic progress in Ukraine since 2014, it’s best to look far outside of Kyiv and national politics to the hundreds of cities and towns that are undergoing the largest transformation in Ukraine’s post-independence history.
Viewing the last five years in Ukraine from the country’s regions, five key areas of reform stand out and provide a basis for the next administration to build upon. These include first and foremost the series of decentralization laws that have given Ukrainian municipalities the most decision-making powers and responsibilities they have yet had. This includes the 2015 fiscal decentralization law, which grants greater tax-and-spend authority to Ukrainian cities and towns including keeping excise taxes on alcohol and gas in their communities. Over the past several years, the International Republican Institute has measured year on year increases in approval ratings for both the institutions of mayors and city councils and for the majority of mayors and city councils in Ukraine’s 24 largest cities. This is a reflection of the ability of those mayors and city councils to effectively use these new resources to repair local roads, rebuild primary schools, provide street lighting and develop safer and cleaner public spaces for their residents.
Additional reforms impacting Ukraine’s regions include the establishment of private housing associations, known by their Ukrainian acronym OSBB, which have allowed residents of Ukrainian apartment buildings to self-organize, elect their own leadership, and manage their own budgets in maintaining their property. This has been a reform that took on particular significance and interest in Ukraine’s eastern regions where large apartment-dwelling population centers exist.
The comprehensive and sweeping reform of Ukraine’s police force from a corrupt Soviet-era “militia” to the patrol police of today, thanks to the support of the governments the United States and Canada in particular, is another visible and tangible reform that Ukrainians have seen and become used to and one of the first solid attempts at breaking the petty corruption that has plagued the lives of average Ukrainians.
Finally, one of the newest reform initiatives in Ukraine—healthcare reform—has the potential to significantly impact in a positive way the costs associated with healthcare by tying medical care costs to the patient rather than the facilities and breaking up the monopolization of pharmaceutical procurement. The introduction of family doctors as primary caregivers continues to be rolled out across the country, with over 60 percent of those who have signed up saying they were satisfied with the quality of service provided according to an October 2018 survey by the International Republican Institute.
Together, this range of reform initiatives is comprehensively changing the way Ukrainians view good governance and their role in local participatory democracy. If there is an attempt to roll back these gains after the next parliamentary elections, then strengthening these reforms at the local level and continuing to build their resiliency are the greatest safeguards to the progress made over the last five years. They also provide the best chance of success in implementing hopefully the next round of reforms that will tackle anti-corruption and foster local economic growth in a meaningful way.
While many pundits and analysts will continue to look at the top of Ukraine‘s political pyramid as an indicator of its democratic progress and future trajectory, it is from the ground up that Ukraine is building a resilient, participatory, and democratic European state.
