Other international actors and civil society organisations, including a leading citizen election observation group, OPORA, raised similar concerns and criticism. The national authorities were called on to respect the voting rights of the affected citizens and in particular to establish clear, objective and politically impartial criteria and methodology for addressing and taking into account security challenges during elections, to strengthen transparency in the decision-making process, and to involve relevant experts and conduct public consultations for decisions to hold or not the election/vote in the concerned territories. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in response to the failure to hold the elections in some districts, encouraged the Ukrainian authorities to “ensure the constitutional right of local residents to participate in public affairs by holding local elections in the 18 territorial communities in October 2021.” To date, these elections have not been held.