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legislation. ​It lambasted efforts to increase the powers of the controversial High Council of Justice (HCJ), the judiciary’s highest governing body, and called for ensuring its integrity. "The commission also recommended improving criteria for ensuring the independence and integrity of foreign experts who will help Ukraine choose another judicial body, the High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ)." "Moreover, the commission recommended restricting the powers of the unreformed and tainted Kyiv District Administrative Court, which is headed by Pavlo Vovk."
On October 15, the President of Ukraine signed a decree “On Certain Measures to Accelerate Reforms in the Sphere of Land Relations”. ​Now more than 2 million hectares of agricultural land that were in state ownership will be transferred to the amalgamated territories. Communities will be able to allocate funds from land use for their development. This step allows completing the decentralization reform in Ukraine, which is considered to be one of the most successful. Earlier this year Ukraine finally abolished the moratorium on the agricultural land sale - a big step towards the liberalization of the agricultural sector.
2.5 ​Polls & Sociology
The death rate from coronavirus is 2% in Ukraine, ​Viktor Liashko, the nation’s chief sanitary doctor, tells RFE/RL. Worldwide, the death rate has dropped to 3%, from 7%, largely better medical protocols adopted over the last six months. Over the last seven months, 5,673 people in Ukraine have died of Covid-19. With numbers expected to grow this fall, Yulia Tymoshenko, a Covid survivor, said yesterday she has united all Rada factions behind a bill to create a national task force, headed by President Zelenskiy, to combat the pandemic.
Biggest problem for Ukrainians is war in Donbas, poll says​. The biggest problem among Ukrainians is the ongoing war in Donbas, according to a poll released on Oct. 20 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. About 63% of respondents identified the war as among Ukraine’s top three problems, while 53% identified corruption and 43% said unemployment. The coronavirus pandemic ranked only eighth with 11% of respondents naming it among Ukraine’s leading problems. The poll was conducted between Oct. 8 and 15 among 1,009 respondents. It’s our assessment that the Zelensky administration is incapable of solving any of Ukraine’s three largest problems. So its public support will continue to fall in the coming months, eroding Zelensky’s celebrity aura that has shielded him from much criticism so far. And the country will grow increasingly divided between the pro-Russian forces (led by Yuriy Boyko and Viktor Medvedchuk) and the pro-Western forces (led by Petro Poroshenko). It’s remarkable that the coronavirus pandemic is not a main concern among Ukrainians, despite the peaking infection rates. This is the direct result of a low income population.
Worsening Ukraine’s bleak demographic situation, marriages have dropped by 27% during the pandemic​, RFE/RL reports, citing Justice Ministry figures. From March 12 to Oct. 10, marriages dropped by 38,786 y/y. The 2020 figure was 107,069, far below the 145,855 recorded during the same time last year. Separately, during the first half of this year in Ukraine, two people died for each baby born.
In a poll gauging trust levels in government, the Central Bank ranks below Zelenskiy, but above the Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers, ​the centre for Social Monitoring reported yesterday. In a nationwide poll of 3,014 people completed last week, the categories ‘rather do not trust’ and ‘do not
14​ UKRAINE Country Report​ November 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com