The National Debate Tournament has identified its Winners

In the decisive battle of talks the team from Zhytomyr won among the students, and from Znamianka won among pupils.

During May 11-12, the National Debate Tournament on Political Reforms took place at NTUU “KPI”. 86 debaters of 28 Ukrainian cities from all parts of Ukraine competed for the cup and the title of the best speakers.

Young people competed for anti-corruption, electoral and political finance reforms. They found arguments, demonstrated oratorical abilities, defended the position of “Government” or “Opposition”.

Olexandra Skyba (Institute “Republica”) and Olga Yashan (KPI Debate Club) spoke with a welcoming speech. Afterwards, Ian Woodward presented a study of the National Democratic Institute “Opportunities and Obstacles on the Way to Democratic Transition in Ukraine”, attended by over 7,000 citizens.

Also a debatable battle was preceded by an informational discussion “Political Reforms in Ukraine: “For” and “Against” with the participation of deputies, journalists and experts on national reforms. Igor Popov and Oleksiy Mushak, deputies of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, expressed their thoughts on the state of reforms and possible ways of their implementation.

In turn, experts include Andriy Magera, Deputy Head of the Central Election Commission, Serhiy Adamenko, Center Eidos, Alexey Pivtorak, Center Ua, Bogdan Bondarenko, CPLR, Maxim Klyuchar, SACCI, Oleksiy Sidorchuk, IFES, told students about the peculiarities of the adoption of the Electoral Code, about where the money of political parties goes and how it can be tracked. The discussion was moderated – Roman Skrypin, journalist, TV presenter, founder and project manager of Skrypin.ua.

Debate selective games and a grand finale was held on May 12th. The judges of the final were: Marina Singhayivska, deputy director general of the Ukrainian national news agency Ukrinform, Natalia Sokolenko, teleporter, journalist of the Hromadske Radio, Volodymyr Chemerys, chairman of the Republican Institute, Alexander Skiba, deputy chairman of the Institute and others. Moderator of the final part was – Michael Shchur, TV journalist, lead, actor, screenwriter.

The team from Zhytomyr – Igor Savchuk and Yulia Nikolaichuk received a victory among the students.

  “The winners Cup go to Zhytomyr. Thanks to our teachers and trainers. These two days were cool and useful, thanks to the Institute “Republica”! You do a really good job,” – students from Zhytomyr shared their impressions.

The team of Znamianka (Kirovograd region) – Oleksandr Kovalenko and Maria Lyubushko – won the victory among the schoolchildren.

The best speakers of the National Debate Tournament were Philip Shterental (Kyiv) and Danylo Ralko (Dnipro).

The debatable tournament takes place within the “Active Community: Choice Right” project of the Institute Republica. The National Battle was held with the support of the KPI Debat Club and consulting support to the project Support to Anti-Corruption Champion Institutions (SACCI) Program in Ukraine.

Note. The Active Community: Choice Policy project is being implemented with the support of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) with financial support from the American people, provided through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).