Communication of Ukrainian Parliamentary Political Parties with Voters through Official Websites during the russo-ukrainian war

Abstract

In the context of the transformation of Ukraine’s political system and the gradual consolidation of democratic governance, the issue of building effective political institutions capable of meaningful interaction with voters has become particularly significant. A parliamentary political party, as one of the key elements of this institutional framework, emerges not merely as an organization but as a coherent system that develops and functions according to its own internal logic. Its existence is defined not only by formal rules and statutory provisions but also by its ability to adapt to societal changes, respond to new challenges, and maintain the connection between the state and its citizens. For this reason, parties serve as indicators of the maturity of the political process and the level of democratization of society, especially in the conditions of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. Parliamentary political parties act as central actors most capable of fulfilling the tasks of democratic representation. During electoral campaigns, they not only accumulate and articulate public demands but also transform them into political programs and concrete decisions. Through party structures, citizens’ demands acquire institutional form and reach representative bodies of power, becoming the foundation for shaping the state’s political course. Thus, parties perform the role of intermediaries between society and the state, ensuring the legitimacy of governance and its responsiveness to citizens’ expectations. An important channel of communication between parliamentary political parties and voters is their official websites. The evaluation of these websites was carried out according to the following criteria: site structure, ideological emphases, content and position regarding the war, and usability. The study systematized the thematic directions of publications on the official websites of Ukraine’s parliamentary political parties. Five dominant themes were identified in their communication space: social issues, economic questions, the Russo-Ukrainian war, processes of state reconstruction, and criticism of the current government.