The primary challenges in Ukraine remain the high level of corruption, the weakness of institutions tasked with ensuring the rule of law and the limitations on media freedom, as stated in the annual Nations in Transit-2016 survey, according to Freedom House`s research project on democracy in the 29 formerly communist countries from Central Europe to Central Asia.
Ukraine has been named the country with a transitional government or hybrid regime.
According to the survey, Ukraine is at 18th place out of 29 in the ranking of democratic progress among post-communist countries.
The survey examined countries under seven criteria: electoral process, civil society development, media freedom and national democratic governance, as well as local democratic governance, judicial framework and independence, and corruption.
Progress in the fight against corruption, media freedom and justice in Ukraine have been estimated at the 2013 levels.
According to Freedom House`s survey, Ukraine will continue to face challenges to its statehood and territorial integrity due to Russian aggression and the fragility of its national democratic institutions.
At the same time, experts note, ”the most severe crisis has likely passed and the country will have more space for implementing reforms and encouraging economic recovery.”
At the top of the ranking are Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia, which have been recognized as countries with a stable democratic system. The lowest scores were demonstrated by countries with an authoritarian political system: Russia and the countries which were former members of the Soviet Union (Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Azerbaijan, as well as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).
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