Why not petitions in Kiev work?

For more than a decade, electronic petitions have been working as a tool to attract power to socially important initiatives. They also help to start dialogue on certain issues in the community. However, in recent years, on the example of Kiev, one can see how the activity of submitting appeals is declining, respectively, the overall level of their support is reduced.

The root of the problem is, in particular, that the authorities regularly sabotage the promotion in the implementation of petitions, initiatives that are gaining the highest number of signatures, reject, and the threshold of the required votes is often too high, so not all appeals can overcome it.

In 2015, the E-petition portal to the Kyiv City Council worked in the capital-it was the first similar platform in Ukraine to increase the involvement of citizens in the decision-making process. In fact, the interest of the locals was enormous: in the first two years, the people of Kiev registered 3,500 petitions on different topics. However, out of 8711 appeals, which were filed for 10 years of the service, they received enough signatures of only 227, and supported the authorities even less – 152 petitions.

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In fact, less than 2% of registered petitions have already been implemented or have a minimum chance of implementing the coming years. The call remains a high threshold of the necessary signatures, which in Kyiv since June 2021 is 6 thousand. Previously, this figure was greater and was 10 thousand, which led to the fact that only 1-2 petitions per year were successful.

At the same time 2024 statistics It clearly proves that the size of the threshold needs to be settled. After all, today the capital demonstrates some of the worst indicators when it comes to supporting electronic appeals from citizens. And this, accordingly, affects the level of registration of new petitions. The people of Kiev do not feel sufficient effectiveness and influence of this tool.

Determining the exact number of required votes is the complete prerogative of local self -government bodies. The Law of Ukraine « On Citizens’ Appeals » indicates only the lower limit that should be for Kiev “At least 1000 signatures”Considering the population.

It is interesting that in the first years of a full-scale invasion of e-petition began to be more actively used among locals as a tool of democracy, in particular because it was more difficult to organize rallies and mass events. Currently, the KSCA shares have recovered, but the amount of problematic issues that need attention is much greater than the ability to gather under the walls of the administration for each reason.

And therefore Diversification of democracy instruments is a direct requirement of time and current circumstances.

In addition, the capital has not fully recovered Public budget. This fact significantly limits the people of Kyivans to participate in the allocation of local budget funds or submit their own initiatives in order to improve the urban space.

Another serious problem is the deviation of popular petitions, which generally calls doubt on the effectiveness of electronic appeals in Kiev. If we consider citizens’ initiatives as an indicator of public importance of issues, and the decisions of the OMS made as current priorities of the city, now it turns out that in the capital are diametrical opposites.

A striking example in 2024 was the Petition on the preservation of the Chinese archeological complex. Despite the record collected 8592 signatures, in response to the petition, the mayor Vitaliy Klitschko translated responsibility to the city council. The mayor noted that « The possibility of practical implementation will depend on the results of consideration by the Kyiv City Council The issue of renewal of lease agreements specified in the letter of land ».

Two months later, the lease agreements were extended, despite all the public resonance, which risen around the petition and the topic of preserving the historical monument as a whole. Instead, in the newsletter « Klitschko May », which is distributed near the Kiev subway, There is a regular section on the development of Kiev road infrastructure. But there is no mention of the vector for the preservation of historical or cultural heritage there.

Excerpt from the newsletter « Klitschko May », March 2025

Even if petitions are lucky to dial the necessary signatures and get the « green light » from local authorities, it remains highly likely that The status of « on implementation » will be the end point in its implementation. For example, a petition about a billion hryvnias for a barrier instead of overhauling Bogatyrskaya Street, according to the co -author of the appeal, has no progress since the assignment has been directed to responsible persons.

This once again emphasizes that local governments should review the quality of interaction with electronic appeals that the community submits and supports.

In order not to lose the confidence of citizens in the petition instrument, the rejection of the initiative, or the process of its implementation require timely and transparent communication with the locals by representatives of the authorities. And in some cases, you need to offer alternatives available if the full implementation of the petition is not currently impossible.

Amin doctor« Honestly. Kyiv »

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