On May 21, 2025, the International Scientific and Practical Conference "Elections as a Form of Direct Democracy: Democracy, State, Legislation" was held at the V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the NAS of Ukraine.

The conference was organized by: the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, the V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Association of People's Deputies of Ukraine, the Association "August 24", Association of Ukrainian Lawyers, Institute of Legislative Provisions and Legal Expertise, Institute for Strategic Studies in the Sphere of State Building, Polish Society of Experts and Judicial Advisors, Ukrainian Center for Constitutional and Legal Studies.

The event brought together scientists, representatives of the Central Election Commission, people's deputies of Ukraine, politicians, civil society figures, and representatives of universities. The conference was dedicated to a topical topic - elections in Ukraine. The issues covered both the issue of the first post-war elections in Ukraine after the end of martial law, and the issue of improving domestic electoral legislation so that it meets international electoral standards and the modern development of constitutionalism in Ukraine.

The thematic areas of the conference were: historical and legal components of the development of democracy and electoral processes; constitutional and legal problems of organizing and conducting elections; the Ukrainian people as a subject of power; problems of implementing the principle of separation of powers in Ukrainian political and legal practice; problems of legislative regulation of electoral processes; proportional, majoritarian and mixed electoral systems: for and against; the issue of holding elections in the context of the Russian war against Ukraine; gender quotas in electoral law: issues of theory and practice.

The opening speech at the conference was delivered by the Director of the V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the NAS of Ukraine, Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine Oleksandr Skrypnyuk. In his speech, Oleksandr Vasylyovych, in particular, welcomed the participants of the conference and noted the relevance of the chosen topic. « "The task facing scientists, representatives of civil society, and representatives of state authorities is to develop recommendations for resolving issues related to elections and the electoral process," Oleksandr Vasylovich noted.

Olexandr Skrypnyuk also thanked the Co-Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Doctor of Law, First Vice-President of the National Academy of Law of Ukraine, Academician of the National Academy of Law of Ukraine, People's Deputy of the I-IV convocations Olexandr Bandurka for organizing the conference; the Co-Chairman of the Organizing Committee, President of the Association of People's Deputies of Ukraine, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VIII-IX convocations Serhiy Taruta; Vice President of the Association of People's Deputies of Ukraine, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 1st convocation, Chairman of the Association of People's Deputies of the 1st convocation "24 August" Vitaly Melnychuk; Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Deputy Director of the V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Natalia Onishchenko;Deputy Co-Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Doctor of Law, Professor, Vice-President of the Association of Ukrainian Lawyers, Leading Researcher at the V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the NAS of Ukraine Oleg Martselyuk.

The following delivered welcoming remarks: Doctor of Law, First Vice-President of the National Academy of Law of Ukraine, Academician of the National Academy of Law of Ukraine, People's Deputy of the I-IV convocations Olexander Bandurka; Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Law of Ukraine, President of the Association of Ukrainian Lawyers, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the I-III convocations Vasyl Kostytsky; Member of the Central Election Commission Pavlo Lyubchenko.

After the introductory and welcoming remarks, the main part of the conference began, at which leading scientists of our country delivered reports dedicated to the current constitutional and legal problems of organizing and conducting elections and the problems of legislative regulation of electoral processes.

The following delivered reports at the first section: «Elections as a form of democracy: some theoretical and legal and constitutional and legal aspects» — Olexandr Skrypnyuk, Director of the V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the NAS of Ukraine, Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the NAPRN of Ukraine, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine; «Elections — form of exercising the powers of the Ukrainian people as a subject of power» — Vasyl Kostytskyi, Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Law and Humanities of Ukraine, President of the Association of Ukrainian Lawyers, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the I-III convocations, Professor of the Department of Theory and History of Law and State of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Law of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv; «The role of women in local politics: problems of choice and voters» — Nataliya Onishchenko, Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Deputy Director of the V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; «Administrative audit of the parliamentary election system in Ukraine for 1989-2025»  — Vitaly Melnychuk, Vice President of the Association of People's Deputies of Ukraine, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 1st convocation, Chairman of the Association of People's Deputies of the 1st convocation "August 24"; «Innovative approaches to voter identification in the electoral process with FACE ID» – Dmytro Zhuravlev, Deputy Head of the Department for Citizenship, Pardons, and State Awards — Head of the Department for Pardons of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Doctor of Law, Professor; «Constitutional and Legal "Prohibitions" on Holding Elections in Ukraine under Martial Law, Practice of Their Implementation and Problems of Interpretation» — Petro Stetsyuk, retired judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Candidate of Law, Doctor of Law, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine; «Problems of Implementing Constitutional Rights of Citizens of Ukraine» — Vyacheslav Bilous, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 2nd convocation, member of the Board of the Association of People's Deputies of Ukraine, ex-chairman of the Union of Officers of Ukraine.

The following delivered reports at the second section: «Post-war elections in Ukraine: main legal problems and challenges» — Yuriy Klyuchkovsky, Doctor of Law, Associate Professor of the Department of Law and Public Law, Faculty of Law, National University «Kyiv-Mohyla Academy», People's Deputy of Ukraine of the III–VI convocations; «Main problems of the constitutional and legal principles of organizing and holding the first post-war elections in Ukraine» — Maryna Stavniychuk, Candidate of Law, Vice-President of the World Congress of Ukrainian Lawyers, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine; «Features of the first post-war elections» — Andriy Magera, former Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission, expert of the Center for Political and Legal Reforms, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine; «Improvement of the electoral legislation of Ukraine at the current stage of state building: main directions» — Oleg Martselyak, Doctor of Law, Professor, Vice-President of the Association of Ukrainian Lawyers, Leading Researcher of the Department of Constitutional Law and Local Self-Government of the V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the NAS of Ukraine, Member of the Board of the Institute for Strategic Studies in the Sphere of State Building, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine; «Territorial community as a strategic organizational and legal constant of electoral legal relations» – Mykhailo Baymuratov, Doctor of Law, Academician of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Professor of the Department of Political Science and Law of the South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University named after K.D. Ushynsky, Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine.

The following gave reports at the third section: «Constitutional and logical principle of democracy: "Who has the land - has the power"» — Olexander Kovalev, Doctor of Economics, Senior Research Fellow, Chief Researcher of the Department of Environmental Economics in the Agricultural Sector of the Institute of Agroecology and Environmental Management of the NAAS, Honored Worker of Agriculture of Ukraine; « Transition to a proportional electoral system with open lists without a regional cluster in future parliamentary elections» — Mykola Marchenko, Candidate of Law, Project Manager «Free Choice»«Investigation of war crimes as a determinant of ensuring conditions for holding free elections» – Emir Abdullayev, prosecutor of the Prosecutor General's Office; «Restrictions on financing of political parties as a component of the state's anti-corruption policy» — Maksim Kostetsky, lawyer, deputy head of the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation.

Summing up the conference, Olexander Skrypnyuk noted that today scientists came together to discuss the current problems of organizing and holding elections in Ukraine. The conference topics were quite diverse and many issues were raised that will help not only legal science, but also all interested parties to correlate visions and move forward in this regard. «And the proposals that have been developed today will be accepted by the relevant authorities. We have set the tone for discussing this problem and a lot of intellectual work awaits us on this path,” concluded Olexandr Skrypnyuk.