What did Ukraine's 2020 local election turnout show?

What did voters make of the choice in front of them on 25 October 2020? Ukraine held local elections that day, choosing deputies to village, settlement and city councils, as well as village, settlement and city mayors.

Turnout was around 37%, the lowest in the history of independent Ukraine. That figure is the central fact of the day, and it frames any reading of the results: the councils and mayors chosen were elected by barely more than a third of those entitled to vote.

A court ruling days earlier

Six days before the vote, on 19 October 2020, the Darnytskyi District Court in Kyiv granted a claim by Viktor Medvedchuk to ban Vakhtang Kipiani's book on Vasyl Stus, titled "The Stus Case". The ruling concerned a work of non-fiction and the limits placed on its circulation.

The two events were separate. Together, they mark a week in which Ukrainians were asked to choose local leaders while a court decision on a published book drew attention to questions about publishing.