Civil Network OPORA interim report based on nonpartisannt local election observation in October 2020

Executive summary

The local elections in Ukraine are taking place while the country is facing the first implementation of the new Electoral Code, a considerable strengthening of the political parties' role in the nomination phase, and the spread of COVID-19. This context puts a serious burden on the election commission members, other election process actors, law enforcement agencies, and the central and local authorities. In the run-up to the election, a key objective for the local authorities and election commissions remains to ensure safe voting conditions and secure funding to supply protective means. OPORA believes that the local authorities are still able to fully comply with the established anti-pandemic standards during the election, despite the unequal funding and provision of supplies to the polling stations and election commissions in different communities. Central and local authorities should use the time left before the voting day to ensure the safe election process and uniform voting standards.

In the reporting period, the Central Election Commission (CEC) acted professionally, paying considerable attention to the voter awareness raising and clarification of the election law. The National Police of Ukraine and other law enforcement agencies reported their interim results of investigations or prevention of attempts to buy votes, abuse the change of address procedures, and commit other election-related crimes. These reports have sent a positive signal to the public. OPORA believes that the society looks forward to the final results of the investigations and expects fair court decisions. Currently, there are reasons to believe that the improved Criminal Code of Ukraine helps the law enforcement agencies take a proactive stance, which is already a deterrent to election law offenders.

A priority for the law enforcement agencies is still to prevent vote buying in the final days of the campaign, while such illegal practices traditionally unfold as the voting day approaches. It is equally important to prevent violence against candidates or their representatives, as obstruction to the activities of electoral process actors has been widespread. Moreover, OPORA recognizes the need to investigate effectively all the attacks on candidates, damage to their property, or destruction of campaign materials. At the same time, the organization appreciates consistent efforts of the National Police of Ukraine to provide training to its officers who perform their duties at all stages of the election process.

Having analyzed the legal grounds for the poll to be held on October 25, 2020 on the initiative of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, OPORA calls on the President, all political parties, and law enforcement officers to avoid violations of the Electoral Code of Ukraine, as well as covert electioneering and voter mobilization for a particular political force during this poll. Moreover, the Servant of the People party should immediately disclose the sources of funding for the October 25, 2020 poll to ensure transparent financing of political activities. OPORA calls on the voters to avoid any forms of violence or other illegal actions during the polling.

According to the interim observations, OPORA sees a high electoral competition in the local elections. People have a wide choice of candidates who are actively competing for their support. In the election of local councilors and mayors, the following local party organizations have nominated the biggest number of candidates: the Servant of the People: 29,469 candidates (10.9% of the total number of candidates); Batkivshchyna [Fatherland]: 28,491 (10.5%); Za Maibutnie [For the Future]: 26,602 (9.8%); European Solidarity: 22,763 (8.4%); and Opposition Platform — For Life: 19,176 (7.1%). In total, the local elections have more than 217,000 candidates, of whom 59.2% have been nominated under the proportional representation system.

The role of the Internet and social media has become decisive among the campaigning formats most used by the election participants. According to OPORA's estimates, various political forces and candidates spent approximately $2.6 million (about UAH 70 million) on Facebook advertising during the campaign. Compared with the last parliamentary election, the number of Facebook ads has almost doubled. The uncontrolled dissemination of fake news stories, fabricated public opinion polls, and negative campaigning are the key challenges of the online campaign. Furthermore, the uncontrolled sources of funding for online campaigning provoke a rise in political corruption.

The 2020 local elections show the need for further serious discussions of the mechanisms for strengthening Ukraine's party institutions. This would help harmonize the election laws with the real development of party institutions. Despite a stronger role the parties play thanks to the proportional representation system introduced in the communities with 10,000+ voters, the vast majority of candidates is non-partisan. Independent candidates account for 76.1% of the total number of the nominees. For example, independent nominees make 96.9% of Za Maibutnie candidates, 95.3% of the Servant of the People candidates, 91.2% of Holos candidates, 54.9% of European Solidarity candidates,  54.7% of the Opposition Platform — For Life candidates, and 49.7% of Batkivshchyna candidates. The current Electoral Code has largely restricted self-nomination in the local election and encouraged local leaders to run for office with support of political parties, although their involvement in internal party processes and institutions is often minimal.

For the first time, the laws of Ukraine require strict observance of the gender representation on the party lists (at least two persons of each gender in each party list of five). Although this innovative requirement might be violated at the community level, the local election is the first strong signal that the government works to implement an inclusive approach in the political and electoral process. According to OPORA's estimates, 44% of local councilor/mayor candidates are women. This figure is 43.1% in the regional council elections, 44% in raion council elections, 45.2% in the local council elections in the communities with 10,000+ voters, and 43.9% in the communities with fewer than 10,000 voters. The lowest representation of women is in mayoral elections, only 16.3%. This proves the need to pursue a public policy for strengthening equal representation of men and women in all walks of public life. OPORA calls on the political parties to promote inclusive political processes in their internal procedures after the election.

As to the key campaign violations reported in the past month, failures to comply with legal campaigning requirements dominated, with over 700 verified violations reported for the entire observation period as of October 22. Financial incentives for voters and misuse of administrative resources were less common, but these types of violations had the most adverse impact on the overall election process. As expected, the current election procedures, i.e. the establishment of constituencies and election commissions as well as ballot printing, saw errors and procedural abuses by the election administration authorities. Observers have revealed more than 80 verified cases.

We should note that public activities of the parties and candidates, even after the official launch of election campaigns, involved typical abuses and violations of the election standards. This has negatively affected the generally competitive nature of the election process. Various forms of misuse of administrative resources were not criticized publicly by the election participants themselves, and were tolerated at different levels as an acceptable way of electioneering by incumbent officials and legislators. There is no clear regulatory framework governing the activities of elected officials and civil servants in the election process, which would effectively introduce the established international practices based on the prevailing democratic standards, therefore the election participants have actually misused administrative resources much more often than the statistics says.

High-profile response to vote buying techniques and, at the same time, the lowered intensity of such campaign abuses over the past month point to the positive impact of current legislative restrictions and sanctions, as well as the important role played by the law enforcement agencies to prevent abuse. However, only effective investigations into the detected election offenses can prevent such abuses in the future and encourage the election participants to adhere to lawful and legitimate campaigning methods. Another problem is that even in this context, indirect vote buying has not disappeared, but has become more covert.

OPORA’s view of the public poll to be conducted on the president`s initiative on the 2020 local election voting day

A public poll will be held on October 25, 2020, following President Zelenskyi’s initiative. The poll is to survey public opinion regarding some country development issues. On the eve of the local election, Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced his intention to survey public opinion regarding the feasibility of introduction of life imprisonment for large scale corruption; introduction of a free economic area in the government controlled territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts; reducing the number of Ukrainian parliament members to 300; legalization of medical cannabis; and whether Ukraine should raise the issue of meeting the commitments undertaken by the Budapest Memorandum signatory states. 

The Servant of the People political party has announced its decision to fully fund the initiative of the President of Ukraine, citing the right of political parties to hold exit polls outside polling stations and without campaigning on the election day.

At the time of publication of this report, OPORA observers received information about recruitment of interviewers to conduct the President’s public poll in various regions of Ukraine. According to initial information, the persons involved in the survey may be paid UAH 1,200 under a civil law contract, while the survey itself will be conducted by one of the polling companies. As there are different views of the public regarding the President’s initiative, the National Police of Ukraine urged voters not to interfere with the poll.

After the President of Ukraine’s recent public address, OPORA promptly prepared and published its own position regarding the survey (the analytical report is available at: https://www.oporaua.org/en/news/vybory/mistsevi-vybory/mistsevi_2020/opytuvanya)

OPORA's key views regarding the poll initiated by the President of Ukraine include:

• The institute of the national poll and the procedure for conducting it as a form of exercising power by the citizens of Ukraine are not established by the Constitution of Ukraine, the Electoral Code of Ukraine, or any other law. At the same time, any form of direct democracy shall be carried out in the manner prescribed by the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine. Conducting a poll unforeseen by the Ukrainian law could potentially discredit the mechanisms of direct democracy and encourage political groups to manipulate them.
• The President of Ukraine does not have the powers to initiate an all-Ukrainian poll, and the Head of State is obliged to act only on the basis and within the powers and in the manner prescribed by the Constitution of Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyi has announced his intention to conduct the poll using the official communication channels of the Office of the President of Ukraine while holding the status of the Head of State, which may indicate that he has stepped outside the powers set by the Constitution.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyi repeatedly used election slogans and campaign messages of the local organizations of the Servant of the People party when addressing Ukrainian citizens regarding the poll. Such actions by the Head of State show signs of covert campaigning in support of a particular political party, which may be a violation of the equal opportunity principle for all participants of the election process. 
• Lack of a public methodology for conducting the poll and information about the implementors negatively affects the ability of law enforcement agencies to plan measures to support law and order and creates an additional burden for them. This is an important challenge in the context of law enforcement agencies’ duty to not only support the legitimacy of the election process, but also to monitor compliance with the lockdown restrictions. 
• In the context of the aggravation and spread of the COVID 19, conducting a public poll in parallel with the voting process in the local election creates new risks for the epidemiological situation in the country. According to some data, up to 60,000 people may be involved in the poll, while the time spent by the voters in places of mass gatherings is increasing. 
• Although the poll is to be conducted outside the polling stations, its quasi-official status, based on the initiative of the President, can promote mobilization technologies of a particular political party in violation of the equal opportunity standards for candidates and parties, despite prohibition of any election day campaigning. This prospect is exacerbated by the fact that the poll is funded by a political party whose local organizations participate in local elections.
• Lack of a legal basis for holding the poll and its political controversy can provoke violent confrontations between citizens, to which the National Police of Ukraine will have to respond. An appropriate law enforcement response will require involvement of additional personnel and logistics. 
• Funding of the poll by the Servant of the People political party violates, albeit indirectly, the requirements of the Electoral Code regarding election campaign financing at the expense of the election funds and the conduct of campaigns within the legally stipulated timeframe. Formally, the Servant of the People party is not a participant of the electoral process, but its local organizations are. Nonetheless, the public link between the President of Ukraine, the Servant of the People party, and its local organizations, as well as Zelenskyi's participation in the presentations of local party teams, and the use of slogans of the same political force during the poll creates conditions for de facto violation of the standards for replenishing and use of the election funds in the relevant elections. 

In connection with the risks to the election process associated with holding of an informal poll on the initiative of the President, OPORA calls upon:

• The President of Ukraine to refrain from any form of direct or indirect campaigning at the final stage of the election process, including when commenting on the progress of the poll initiated by him. 
• The National Police of Ukraine to provide adequate response to possible cases of legally prohibited campaigning during the polling.
• The Servant of the People Party to:

• Ensure strict compliance with the requirements of the Electoral Code regarding the ban on election day campaigning, as well as refrain from attempts to use indirect campaigning techniques. Implementation of this recommendation will help establish equal conditions for participation in the election process for all the participants. 
• Immediately disclose the methodology of the survey, as well as the sources of funding and the implementors or contractors of such an initiative (despite the formal deadlines for submitting regular reports to NACP).

• The citizens of Ukraine to refrain from any illegal acts or acts of violence against the interviewers participating in the poll initiated by the President of Ukraine.

Ensuring safe voting in local elections during the coronavirus pandemic

The process of 2020 local elections not only includes the implementation of new Electoral Code, but also calls for carrying out a set of anti-epidemic measures during the vote. In view of the absence of decisions of the Verkhovna Rada concerning statutory regulation of special aspects of organizing and holding a vote at the level of bylaws, the guarantees of safe elections in Ukraine are provided for in subordinate acts (resolutions of the CEC and Cabinet of Ministers). People’s deputies of Ukraine registered several draft laws aimed at ensuring regulatory support of epidemiological response during the elections, but the parliament didn’t consider any of them. According to OPORA, parliament’s passive stance on the matter of regulating the specifics of organization and holding of elections in the midst of pandemic has had a negative effect on coordination of anti-epidemic efforts of the authorities at all levels. Furthermore, inaction of parliament may result in non-uniform application of response measures on the part of the election commissions when resolving conflict situations related to anti-epidemic regime. In particular, such risk exists when it comes to providing electoral subjects with access to voting premises (most significantly, in special polling stations), ensuring rotation of commission members diagnosed with COVID-19, organizing the vote in special polling stations and at the place of residence of voters.

OPORA draws stakeholders’ attention to inadequacy of organizational and awareness-raising work among members of election commissions and representatives of local government bodies. This problem manifested itself by the lack of coordination between election commissions and local authorities at the stage of coordinating the activities on implementation of epidemiological response measures during the elections. In the run-up to the election day, OPORA’s observers noted the intensification of efforts of local authorities to implement the Cabinet’s Procedure for carrying out anti-epidemic measures. Furthermore, the risk of non-uniform application of this Procedure has already become obvious at the level of several territorial communities or even oblasts of Ukraine. OPORA calls on the members of TECs and local government bodies to make every effort to ensure the safe voting of citizens. In this regard, particular attention should be given to the stage of vote tabulation and transfer of election documentation from PECs to TECs, which is traditionally accompanied by mass gatherings of commission members and other electoral subjects.

The Procedure for carrying out anti-epidemic measures in the course of organizing and holding elections as approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on September 14, 2020, is the key document in the field of preventing the spread of COVID-19 during the elections.

The Cabinet’s procedure for combating the epidemic during the elections sets out basic requirements and recommendations for the process of organizing and holding a vote, in particular:

• Conduct of survey on the presence of symptoms of the disease and temperature screening of persons who enter the premises of polling stations and election commissions, take part in organizing the vote at the place of residence of voters or perform other duties during the elections (for example, police officers).
• Recommendation to people who have a high temperature or symptoms of respiratory illness to refrain from visiting the election commissions and polling stations.
• Requirements for the preparation of polling stations that ensure safe voting: 1) specially allotted places for disinfectants and placement of information materials on anti-epidemic measures; 2) special markings at the entrance and inside the premises of polling station that advise visitors to maintain a minimum distance of 1 meter from one another and inform them about the optimal voting route; 3) specially allotted places for centralized collection and subsequent disposal of personal protective equipment.
• Recommendation to have no more than 3 voters per ballot issuing desk at a time.
• Prepare a separate voting booth and a separate ballot box for voters with symptoms of illness and fever.
• Voters are required to wear a protective mask inside the voting premises. The mask can be taken off at the request of PEC members to confirm voter’s identity. Voters are also advised to use a personal pen when voting.
• Recommendation to citizens who are self-isolating to vote at their place of residence by way of filing an application with the PEC no later than 8:00 p.m. on the last Friday before the election day. The application must be accompanied by voter’s health certificate issued by medical institution.
• Ensuring safe distance between PEC members (a minimum distance of 1 meter between their seats or the use of transparent divider screens).
• Disinfection of contact surfaces once every 2 hours, wet cleaning of voting premises at least once every 4 hours.
• Members of election commissions, official observers and police officers are obliged to wear protective masks. PEC members responsible for organizing home voting are required to wear gloves, protective masks (respirator without exhalation valve) and / or protective face shields.
• Additional anti-epidemic measures may be applied at the premises of special polling stations. It is also recommended that members of PECs, official observers and police officers assigned to special polling stations should take coronavirus tests no later than 72 hours before the election day.

In addition to setting out the requirements for implementation of epidemiological response measures during the elections, the Cabinet determined that such measures shall be financed from local budgets, including local reserve funds. According to OPORA’s observers working in different regions, imposition of obligation to finance anti-epidemic measures at the expense of local budget drew a mixed reaction from local authorities. Some of local government officials who were interviewed by OPORA believe that central authorities “retreated from their responsibility” to implement anti-epidemic measures during the elections. Meanwhile, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine made a public statement on timely allocation of funds to local budgets to ensure safe voting in 2020 local elections.

For the purpose of proper execution of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the CEC adopted its own resolution on urgent measures to create safe conditions for organizing and holding local elections on October 25, 2020 (Resolution No. 364 as of October 10). In its Resolution, the CEC drew the attention of the Ministry of Health to the necessity of introducing a standardized form of health certificate to be issued by medical institutions to voters who are self-isolating and intend to vote at their place of residence. The CEC also called on the TECs to determine anticipated demand for anti-epidemic means and bring this information to the attention of local authorities responsible for budget management. Furthermore, the CEC reminded local authorities of the need to finance anti-epidemic measures, ensure proper preparation of polling stations and provide briefing to members of election commissions.

On October 16, 2020, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov held a joint conference call with the heads of regional state administrations in connection with the spread of COVID-19 disease in Ukraine. During the conference call, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and the Chairman of CEC Oleh Didenko stressed the fact that the Cabinet allocated funds to local budgets in a timely manner to ensure safe voting, but called upon the parties to enhance coordination of anti-epidemic activities at the regional and territorial community levels.

Overview of situation in the regions of Ukraine with respect to preparation for implementation of anti-epidemic measures during the elections

In the run-up to the election day, OPORA’s observers contacted local government bodies, oblast state administrations, rayon state administrations, oblast, rayon, city, township and village councils with a request for information on the progress in implementing the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on anti-epidemic measures during local elections. The collected information describes the situation with respect to providing adequate working conditions for TECs and financing of safe voting process in the polling stations.

Sample survey of the authorities and TECs responsible for implementing anti-epidemic measures during local elections revealed the following trends:

• Oblast and rayon state administrations, for the most part, monitor the progress made by local government bodies in implementing the Cabinet’s Procedure for carrying out anti-epidemic measures during local elections. In the run-up to the election day, local authorities intensified their activity which plays an important role in coordinating the efforts to prepare polling stations for voting and ensure safe working conditions for members of election commissions.
• As we approach the election day, local government bodies and state administrations intensified their efforts to provide TECs and voting precincts with adequate supplies of personal protective equipment and prepare polling stations for safe voting.
• There are significant problems in coordination between TECs and local authorities when it comes to implementing the Procedure for carrying out anti-epidemic measures, which is due to the fact that some TECs weren’t provided with full information concerning the procedure for initiating budget expenditures on relevant needs and the approaches to calculating and planning such expenditures. In some cases, OPORA’s observers detected discrepancies in the data provided by chairpersons of TECs and representatives of local authorities. In particular, such discrepancies were found in the information concerning the supply of necessary means of preventing the spread of COVID disease financed by local self-governments and executive bodies.
• Some of the interviewed members of TECs said that they communicated with local government officials on a personal basis and, in fact, informally. This fact points to the lack of awareness among TECs of the possibility to submit a request to the budget manager on the grounds of anticipated demand for anti-epidemic means. In particular, some TECs noted that village and township mayors communicate directly with members of PECs and, as a result, they don’t have exhaustive information about actual level of funding and supply of necessary resources to the polling stations.
• OPORA’s observers noted that local authorities in large cities and rayon centers exhibit higher level of coordination when it comes to implementing the Cabinet’s Resolution on anti-epidemic measures as compared to those in small territorial communities. In particular, this is due to the fact that large territorial communities have sufficient funds to provide the election commissions with all the necessary anti-epidemic means and ensure proper preparation of polling stations. For example, Odesa city council allocated about 1 million 445 thousand hryvnias from the municipal budget, Mykolayiv city council - 2 million UAH, Zaporizhzhya city council - more than 2 million 200 thousand UAH, Khmelnytskyi city council - 209 thousand UAH, Rubizhne city council in Luhansk oblast - 150 thousand UAH, while Konotop city council allocated nearly 186 thousand UAH in order to provide election commission members with personal protective equipment. On the other hand, the results of sample survey show that several small communities suffered from underfunding of anti-epidemic measures. Some local governments performed the task of preparing the polling stations for safe voting with financial support from philanthropists and volunteers (as was the case in Rusanivka village community located in Brovary rayon).

As of this writing, local authorities have made significant efforts to properly implement the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on anti-epidemic measures during local elections. However, current situation with respect to supply of anti-epidemic means to the polling stations varies from one region / territorial community to another, which may lead to violation of epidemic-prevention requirements in some communities. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, local state administrations and local self-government bodies must make the most of the last few days before the election day to ensure that all polling stations are equally prepared for safe voting. Furthermore, it is recommended that the Cabinet and local authorities should adopt a more proactive approach to informing the media and citizens about the progress in preparation of polling stations for voting as well as strengthen the efforts to raise awareness among voters and commission members.

Activity of candidates and local organizations of political parties

The list of the most active electoral subjects shaped up long before the start of electoral process and didn’t undergo significant changes at the stage of official campaigning, as evidenced by the run of events in the last month. Given the absence of formal requirements for the transparency of campaign finance and the procedure for conducting campaign events, the majority of potential participants in election race launched their campaigns (including various forms of pre-election charity) ahead of schedule. As a result, those electoral subjects who rolled out their campaigns within statutory time limits were deprived of the opportunity to compete on equal footing with the parties and candidates who found a way to avoid legal responsibility in violation of democratic election standards.

According to OPORA’s observers, 83 political parties exhibited various forms of campaigning activity in October (notably, 70 parties launched their election campaigns ahead of schedule). Four political forces continued large-scale nationwide campaigns: “Servant of the People”, “For the Future”, “European Solidarity”, and AUU “Batkivshchyna”. Three parties – “Opposition Platform - For Life”, “Victory of Palchevskyi” and “Propozytsia” – were proactive throughout Ukraine with the exception of certain regions where their campaigns were, for the most part, limited to placement of outdoor propaganda materials. Seven other parties (see table) conducted election campaigns in more than a third of all oblasts of Ukraine. Overall, the list of the most active parties includes 24 political forces that campaigned in several regions in the month of October. The feature of campaigning activity of electoral subjects is that more than 20 regional parties conduct active campaigns within the boundaries of one oblast or even one oblast center. For example, this is the case of AUU “CHERKASHCHANY”, “RIDNE ZAKARPATTYA”, “TEAM OF ANDRIY BALOHA”, “CIVIL MOVEMENT “SVIDOMI”, “RIDNYI DIM”, “THE PARTY OF VINNYTSIA RESIDENTS”, “VOLODYMYR SALDO BLOC”, “RIVNE RAZOM”, “KERNES BLOC – SUCCESSFUL KHARKIV”, “TEAM OF MYKHAYLISHYN” and others.

In terms of campaigning activity of mayoral candidates in administrative centers of oblasts and rayons, it is safe to say that representatives of “Servant of the People” party are the most prominent ones (they conduct active campaigns in 73 rayon centers and 19 oblast centers). The number of active candidates for mayors of oblast and rayon centers nominated by AUU “Batkivshchyna” and “For the Future” party is relatively smaller, but still significant on a nationwide scale.

Portrait of candidates

Civil Network OPORA analyzed a total of  271,362 candidates nominated by 147 parties and self-nominees in terms of age, education level, gender, party affiliation etc.

Given the nature of local elections, the largest number of candidates run in election under proportional representation system (territorial communities comprising more than 10,000 voters) - 59.2% of all nominees, 18.4% of candidates stand for election in multi-member constituencies (territorial communities comprising up to 10,000 voters) , 15.2% - compete for deputy seats in rayon councils, 6.2% - for deputy seats in oblast councils, and 1.1% - for the post of mayor.

Party affiliation

Overall, the following political forces nominated the largest number of candidates for mayors and deputies to local councils at all levels: “Servant of the People” party - 29,469 (10.9% of all candidates), AUU “Batkivshchyna” - 28,491 (10.5%), “For the future” party - 26,602 (9.8%), “European Solidarity” - 22,763 (8.4%), “Opposition Platform - For Life” - 19,176 (7.1%), self-nominated candidates - 16,914 (6.2%), “Nash Krai” party - 14,789 (5.4%), AUU “Svoboda” - 10,282 (3.8%), “Force and Honor” party - 9,839 (3.6%) and Radical Party of Oleh Liashko - 9,792 (3.6%).

The largest number of candidates for deputies to oblast councils were nominated by the following parties: AUU “Batkivshchyna” - 1,577 (9.4% of all candidates), “Servant of the People” - 1,539 (9.2%), “For the future” - 1,495 (8.9%), “European Solidarity” - 1,446 (8.6%) and “Nash Krai” - 1,257 (7.5%). Overall, nominees representing the aforementioned 5 political forces account for 43.6% of all candidates running in the elections of deputies to oblast councils.

The largest number of candidates for deputies to rayon councils were nominated by the following parties: AUU “Batkivshchyna” - 4,791 (11.4% of all candidates), “Servant of the People” - 4,483 (10.9%), “For the future” - 1,495 (10.8%), “European Solidarity” - 4,378 (10.6%) and “Opposition Platform - For Life” - 3,611 (8.8%). Overall, nominees representing the aforementioned 5 political forces account for 52.5% of all candidates running in the elections of deputies to rayon councils.

The following parties nominated the largest number of candidates to local councils in territorial communities comprising MORE THAN 10,000 voters: “Servant of the People” - 16,013 (10% of all candidates), AUU “Batkivshchyna” - 15,889 (9.9%), “For the Future” - 14,928 (9.3%), “European Solidarity” - 14,693 (9.1%) and “Opposition Platform - For Life” - 11,648 (7.3%). Overall, nominees representing the aforementioned 5 political forces account for 45.6% of all candidates running in the elections to councils of this type.

Self-nominees make up the largest proportion of candidates standing for election to local councils in territorial communities comprising UP TO 10,000 voters - 15,833 (31.8% of all candidates), followed by representatives of “Servant of the People” party - 7,152 (14.4%), AUU “Batkivshchyna” - 6,157 (12.4%), “For the Future” - 5,562 (11.2%) and “Nash Krai” - 2,664 (5.3%).

Self-nominees also make up the largest proportion of candidates running in mayoral elections - 1,081 (37.1% of all mayoral candidates), while “Servant of the People” party nominated 282 candidates for the position of mayor (9.7%), “For the Future” party - 180 (6.2%), AUU “Batkivshchyna” - 157 (5.4%) and “European Solidarity” - 153 (5.2%).

Three parties nominated only one candidate apiece: “Darth Vader Bloc” - for the post of mayor of Odesa (Darth Mykolayovych Vader), “Narod” party - for the head of Oleksiyivka village community located in Lozivka rayon of Kharkiv oblast (Oleksandr Alenevskyi), and Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine - for the post of mayor of Romny (Serhiy Gavras).

Non-partisans make up the vast majority of candidates - 76.1%, while only 23.9% of all candidates hold membership in political parties. The largest number of non-partisan candidates run in elections to local councils in territorial communities comprising up to 10,000 voters - 87.4%, while the smallest number of non-partisans stand for election to oblast councils - 65.4%.

Among the parties that nominated more than 500 candidates, the largest number of non-partisans were included in electoral lists of “Order” (Poryadok) party - 99.9% of all nominees, “Ukraina Slavetna” party - 99.7%, Vilkul Bloc “Ukrainian Perspective”, “Ridne Zakarpattya” and “Dovira” - almost 99%, while the smallest number of non-partisans were included in electoral list of Svitlychna Bloc “Razom” - 46.2% of all nominees.

Among parliamentary parties, the largest number of non-partisan candidates were included in electoral list of “Servant of the People” - 95.3%, while the smallest number of non-partisans are on electoral list of AUU “Batkivshchyna” - 49.7%.

Party	% of non-partisan candidates
For the Future	96.9
Servant of the People	95.3
Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR	94.3
Victory of Palchevskyi	93.1
Propozytsia	91.2
Holos	91.2
Nash Krai	80.4
Radical Party of Oleh Liashko	72.2
Shariy Party	66.3
Force and Honor	59.1
European Solidarity	54.9
Opposition Platform - For Life	54.7
AUU “Svoboda”	54.4
AUU “Batkivshchyna”	49.7

Education

The vast majority of candidates hold a university degree (higher education) - 75.1%; 8.8% of all candidates obtained general secondary education, 8.7% - vocational and technical education, 6.8% - vocational secondary education. 0.3% of candidates indicated that they received “other types of education” or “incomplete higher education”.

The situation looks similar from the perspective of different types of elections. University diploma holders account for 91% of candidates for deputies to oblast councils, 84.4% of candidates for deputies to rayon councils, 75% of candidates for deputies in territorial communities comprising more than 10,000 voters, 61.2% of candidates for deputies in territorial communities comprising up to 10,000 voters. Meanwhile, the largest proportion of candidates with complete higher education was recorded in mayoral elections - 92.3%.

University degree holders account for more than ⅔ of the total number of candidates on electoral lists of several political forces. The largest proportion of candidates with complete higher education was included on electoral list of “Holos” party - 79.6%, the smallest proportion – on electoral list of Radical Party of Oleh Liashko - 66.7%.

Party	% of candidates with a university degree
Holos	79.6
Servant of the People	78.9
European Solidarity	78.6
Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR	77.8
Propozytsia	77.5
Victory of Palchevskyi	76.8
AUU “Batkivshchyna”	76.1
Force and Honor	76.1
For the Future	74.5
Nash Krai	74.3
Opposition Platform - For Life	72.8
AUU “Svoboda”	71.8
Shariy Party	67.3
Radical Party of Oleh Liashko	66.7

Gender composition

Overall, men account for 55.5% of candidates running in local elections, while women account for 44.2% of all candidates. We were unable to identify the gender of the remaining 0.3% of candidates due to technical problems (misprints in the names of candidates, which is why their personal data wasn’t taken into account in our analytics).

Men make up almost 57% of all candidates standing for election to oblast councils, while women account for  43.1%; 56% of all candidates for deputies to rayon councils are men, 44% are women; the elections of deputies in territorial communities comprising more than 10,000 voters and communities with up to 10,000 voters are also dominated by male candidates - 54.8% and 56.1%, correspondingly. However, the largest proportion of male candidates was recorded in mayoral elections - 83.7%.

The proportion of female candidates on electoral lists of several parties is very similar and varies between 42% and 46%.

Party	% of female candidates
Radical Party of Oleh Liashko	46.3
AUU “Batkivshchyna”	46.2
Nash Krai	46.2
Servant of the People	45.4
Holos	45.4
For the Future	45.3
European Solidarity	45.0
Opposition Platform - For Life	44.7
Propozytsia	44.7
Victory of Palchevskyi	44.7
Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR	44.3
Force and Honor	43.7
AUU “Svoboda”	42.5
Shariy Party	42.3

Age

The largest proportion of candidates belongs to the age group “35-50 years” - 44.4% of all candidates. 27.4% of candidates fall under the age category of “50-65 years”, 21.1% of candidates are aged “25-35”. Only 4.1% of all candidates belong to the age group “25 years or younger”, while 3% of candidates are over 65 years old. Among them, there are only 85 candidates (or 0.03%) aged over 80 years.

Overall, the age distribution of candidates running in different types of elections is almost the same. However, mayoral candidates are slightly older as compared to others. Their average age is almost 47 years. Meanwhile, candidates standing for election in territorial communities comprising more than 10,000 voters are slightly younger. On average, they are just under 44 years old.

Type of election	Aged 18-25	Aged 25-35	Aged 35-50	Aged 50-65	Aged 65-80	Aged 80+
Oblast councils	3.6%	19.3%	45.8%	27.7%	3.6%	0
Rayon councils	3.6%	19.9%	45%	28.5%	3%	0
Communities comprising more than 10,000 voters	4.7%	22.1%	44%	26.2%	3%	0
Communities comprising up to 10,000 voters	2.9%	19.7%	44.8%	29.9%	2.7%	0
Mayors	1.1%	13%	48.6%	34.5%	2.7%	0.1%

It’s emblematic that the Party of Pensioners of Ukraine is the “oldest” among political forces that nominated more than 500 candidates - the average age of its nominees is over 54 years. The average age of candidates representing Kernes Bloc - Successful Kharkiv is almost 48 years, candidates nominated by Agrarian Party of Ukraine, Vilkul Bloc “Ukrainian Perspective”, Party of Ihor Kolykhaev “Nam Tut Zhyty!” (This is where we live!) and AUU “Cherkashchany” are 47 years old in average. Meanwhile, the “youngest” parties in terms of the average age of nominated candidates are “Holos” - 39 years, “Varta” and “National Corps” – both 37 years, and also “Shariy Party” - 36 years.

AUU “Batkivshchyna” is the oldest among parliamentary forces in terms of the average age of nominated candidates - 46 years, while “Holos” party is the youngest one - 39 years.

Party	Average age
AUU “Batkivshchyna”	46.2
Opposition Platform - For Life	45.7
Nash Krai	45.3
European Solidarity	44.7
Force and Honor	44.7
For the Future	44.3
AUU “Svoboda”	43.4
Radical Party of Oleh Liashko	43.4
Propozytsia	43.1
Servant of the People	42.6
Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR	41.5
Victory of Palchevskyi	41.3
Holos	39.1
Shariy Party	36.1

Place of employment

Civil Network OPORA analyzed the most common places of employment of candidates for local deputies and mayoral candidates. The largest portion of candidates are employed in business sector (LLC, PJSC, agricultural  farm enterprises, individual entrepreneurs, etc.) – at least 29.2%. Every seventh candidate (14.6%) is unemployed. Furthermore, 10.9% of all nominees work in local self-governments (oblast, city, township, village councils) and their executive bodies, local state executive authorities (oblast and rayon state administrations) as well as in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. More than 6.3% of candidates are employed in education sector, more than 3.3% of nominees work in medical institutions. Meanwhile, 5.4% of all candidates are retirees.

According to OPORA’s estimates, 257 incumbent mayors (70%) compete for 362 mayoral positions in local elections. Meanwhile, 56 incumbent MPs run in the elections of mayors and deputies to local councils at all levels.

Comparative analysis of several Ukrainian parties shows that the smallest proportion of unemployed candidates is on electoral list of “Servant of the People” - 12.2% of party nominees, while the largest proportion of workless candidates is on electoral list of “Shariy Party” - 35.4%.

Party	% of unemployed candidates
Servant of the People	12.2
AUU “Batkivshchyna”	12.7
Force and Honor	12.8
European Solidarity	13.4
Nash Krai	13.6
For the Future	14.1
Opposition Platform - For Life	15.3
Propozytsia	15.4
Holos	16.6
Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR	17.8
Victory of Palchevskyi	18.7
AUU “Svoboda”	19.5
Radical Party of Oleh Liashko	20.3
Shariy Party	35.4

First candidates on single electoral lists under proportional representation system

92% of first candidates on single electoral lists under proportional representation system received complete higher education. Of these, 77.9% are men while 22.1% are women. The largest proportions of number one candidates belong to age groups “35-50 years” (47.4%) and, to a lesser extent, “50-65 years” (33.7%). By contrast to the overall mix of candidates, the proportions of non-partisans and party members among first candidates are nearly equal - 52.4% and 47.6%, correspondingly.

97.8% of first candidates on electoral lists to oblast councils received complete higher education. The vast majority of them are men (83.3%). For the most part, they belong to the age group “35-50 years” (56.1%) and hold membership in political parties (70.6%).

95.2% of number one candidates on electoral lists to rayon councils hold a university degree. Of these, the vast majority are men (82.5%), they fall under the age category of “35-50 years” (46.1%) and hold membership in political parties (45.8%).

91.1% of first candidates on electoral lists to local councils in territorial communities comprising more than 10 thousand voters obtained complete higher education. The majority of them are men (76.8%). They belong to the age group “35-50 years” (47.2%) and only 46.8% of them hold membership in political parties.

Among the parliamentary parties, the largest proportion of first candidates with party membership was recorded in electoral list of AUU “Batkivshchyna” - 83.3%, while the smallest proportion was recorded in “Servant of the People” party - 7.1%.

Party	% of candidates with party membership
AUU “Svoboda”	87.5
AUU “Batkivshchyna”	83.3
Shariy Party	79.5
European Solidarity	75.5
Radical Party of Oleh Liashko	67.1
Opposition Platform - For Life	61.8
Force and Honor	55.7
Nash Krai	36.5
Holos	33.7
Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR	20.3
Propozytsia	16.7
Victory of Palchevskyi	15.2
For the Future	11.6
Servant of the People	7.1

First candidates on territorial electoral lists under proportional representation system

84.2% of first candidates on territorial electoral lists under proportional representation system received complete higher education. Of these, 69.5% are men while 30.5% are women. The largest proportions of number one candidates belong to age groups “35-50 years” (45.5%) and, to a lesser extent, “50-65 years” (29.7%). The majority of first candidates on territorial lists are non-partisans - 69% of the total number.

94.2% of first candidates on territorial lists to oblast councils acquired complete higher education. The vast majority of them are men (79.6%). They belong to the age group “35-50 years” (48.9%) and  hold membership in political parties (42.9%).

89.3% of number one candidates on territorial lists to rayon councils hold a university degree. Of these, the majority are men (79.6%), they fall under the age category of “35-50 years” (45.5%) and hold membership in political parties (42.9%).

82.1% of first candidates on territorial lists to local councils in communities comprising more than 10 thousand voters obtained complete higher education. The majority of them are men (67.6%). They belong to the age group “35-50 years” (45.2%) and only 29.2% of them hold membership in political parties.

Among the parliamentary parties, the largest proportion of first candidates with party membership was recorded in territorial lists of AUU “Batkivshchyna” - 60.3%, while the smallest proportion was recorded in “Servant of the People” party – 5.9%.

Party	% of candidates with party membership
Shariy Party	68.2
AUU “Svoboda”	61.3
AUU “Batkivshchyna”	60.3
European Solidarity	53.8
Opposition Platform - For Life	48
Force and Honor	43.9
Radical Party of Oleh Liashko	36.6
Nash Krai	23.3
Holos	12.7
Victory of Palchevskyi	10.7
Propozytsia	9.4
Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR	8.5
Servant of the People	5.9
For the Future	4.5

Trends in nomination process

The vast majority of political forces didn’t take full advantage of the opportunity to nominate 5-12 candidates in territorial electoral constituencies under proportional representation system. The parties nominated 5 candidates (an average of 31,900 nominees per electoral constituency taking all types of elections into account) on territorial electoral lists in compliance with the rule of law, which is based on the idea of ​​open lists. However, they were more reluctant to nominate candidate No. 6 onwards. In comparison to candidates No. 1-5, there are 37% fewer candidates No. 6, 59% fewer candidates No.7, 73% fewer candidates No.8, 85% fewer candidates No.9, and 90% fewer candidates No.10 on territorial electoral lists. In other words, lowest ranked candidates were less likely to be nominated than highest ranked ones. On the one hand, the parties tried to avoid excessive competition between their nominees. On the other hand, many of them found it difficult to recruit such a large number of candidates.

No. on territorial electoral list	Total number of candidates	% of the total number, excluding candidates No. 1-5
6	19 897	38.7
7	13 021	25.3
8	8 568	16.7
9	4 800	9.3
10	3 083	6.0
11	1 503	2.9
12	566	1.1

In majoritarian multi-member constituencies, the parties nominated an average of 1.6 candidates per constituency.

Among the parliamentary parties, the largest number of candidates was nominated by “Servant of the People” – an average of 2.19 candidates per multi-member constituency, while the smallest number was nominated by “Holos” – 1.17 candidates per multi-member constituency.

Party	Average number of nominees in multi-member constituencies
Servant of the People	2.19
Nash Krai	2.13
For the Future	1.95
Opposition Platform - For Life	1.8
AUU “Batkivshchyna”	1.79
Propozytsia	1.66
European Solidarity	1.59
Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR	1.49
Force and Honor	1.39
AUU “Svoboda”	1.38
Radical Party of Oleh Liashko	1.3
Victory of Palchevskyi	1.27
Holos	1.17
Shariy Party	1

For reference. The data (as of October 20) utilized in materials on the candidates running in local elections are not published by the Central Election Commission in open data format. OPORA collected and conducted computer-aided analysis of these data (based on data parsing). The above-mentioned factor could affect the accuracy and completeness of utilized data.

Formation of precinct election commissions

Complete formation and maintenance of staff composition of precinct election commissions in an effective quantity was the key challenge facing the territorial election commissions and electoral subjects at the final stage of electoral process preceding the vote. Given the upward trend in COVID-19 cases and the growing risk of coronavirus transmission, there were significant problems with mobilizing 350 thousand citizens to work in crowded places and directly interact with voters (including those who are self-isolating or having symptoms of respiratory disease) until the announcement of election results. The point is that it was difficult to ensure even minimum required staffing of precinct election commissions, especially at the lowest level of administrative-territorial division – in small cities, township and village communities. The decision to expand the list of entities entitled to nominate candidates for members of PECs has done little to ease this problem. The vast majority of nominating entities didn’t display an adequate level of interest or active attitude to strengthening the capacity of election commissions to perform their duties in a more competitive manner.

The Electoral Code authorizes territorial election commissions (TECs) in cities, city rayons, townships and villages to form precinct election commissions (PECs). The quantitative composition of PECs depends on the size of polling station and varies between 10 and 14 members for small polling stations (no more than 500 voters), 12-16 members for medium-sized polling stations (500-1,500 voters) and 14-18 members for large polling stations (more than 1500 voters).

In contrast to the established procedure for forming staff composition of TECs, precinct election commissions were formed on the submission from not three, but five nominating entities as provided for by Electoral Code: 1) local organizations of political parties represented by deputy factions in parliament (they are entitled to nominate no more than 2 candidates subject to mandatory inclusion in PEC); 2) local organizations of political parties that entered into cooperation agreement with deputy groups in parliament (no more than 1 candidate subject to mandatory inclusion in PEC); 3) local organizations of political parties that registered their candidates for deputies to local councils (no more than 1 candidate subject to random procedure of drawing lots); 4) candidates for the position of local mayor (not more than 1 candidate subject to mandatory inclusion in PEC); 5) candidates for deputies to local councils in territorial communities comprising up to 10 thousand voters (no more than 1 candidate subject to mandatory inclusion in PEC).

A total of 29,284 precinct election commissions were formed by TECs for the purpose of organizing and holding local elections on October 25, 2020. It should be noted that 2,581 precincts (9% of the total number) were excluded from voting process due to the fact that they are located in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation as well as on the grounds of conclusions of civil-military administrations on the impossibility of holding local elections in certain territories of Ukraine.

The absence of exhaustive information on the results of formation of PECs on the official website of Central Election Commission and other open data sources was the main obstacle to comprehensive assessment of the process of PEC staffing. This makes it much more difficult for electoral subjects to conduct independent monitoring and gather evidence for the purpose of prompt identification and response to systemic problems arising at the key stage of election process. The law places TECs under an obligation to publish their resolutions on the formation of precinct election commissions, including the information on staff composition, within twenty-four hours of creation of PECs. However, the absence of unified method and format of publication makes it impossible to quickly process and analyze such a large array of fragmented data.

OPORA conducted independent sampling analysis of the results of formation of PECs based on prompt processing of resolutions and information collected by observers at the meetings of territorial election commissions. The analyzed sample data covered all city TECs located in administrative centers of newly formed rayons and oblast centers (without division into rayons). OPORA’s observation covered all city election commissions located in rayon centers and entitled to create PECs within the boundaries of corresponding cities. Overall, observers managed to collect information from 107 out of 119 TECs.

According to OPORA, 107 TECs created a total of 4,468 precinct election commissions (exclusive of special voting precincts) comprising 65,462 members. More than half of all PECs (53%) were formed with the inclusion of minimum (or close to a minimum) allowed number of members. Heads of TECs were forced to nominate candidates on their own initiative to ensure minimum required staffing of PECs. Overall, lot drawing procedure for appointing members of precinct commissions  wasn’t conducted in 62% of all PECs, that is, the number of nominated candidates was smaller than the number of vacant seats in these commissions. For the most part, this was the case of PECs located in small administrative-territorial units.

In general, despite the occurrence of several problem-plagued commissions, the process of formation of PECs covered by OPORA’s monitoring was carried out in compliance with legal procedures and within statutory time limits. Nominating entities submitted their candidates for members of PECs by September 30 (inclusive). However, in 4% of commissions political parties and candidates breached the deadline for submitting nominations to PECs. About 2% of nominated candidates were rejected by territorial commissions. Although several applications were turned down as a result of submitting incomplete package of accompanying documentation or incomplete information about nominated candidates, cases of rejection of candidates on the grounds of identified errors or inaccuracies in submitted documents weren’t systemic. Multiple nominations of one and the same person to different PECs or nomination of a person that performs the duties of official observer were the most common reasons for rejecting candidates. The above-mentioned situations reoccur, for the most part, due to negligent attitude of nominating entities to the task of compiling nomination lists or deliberate nomination of candidate to the commission without the knowledge or consent of candidate. Such destructive behavior is justified by the existing procedure for replacing members of election commissions at the initiative of nominating entity. As a result, it often happens that members of TECs are unable to get in touch with the persons included on nomination lists or meet with their refusals to participate in the work of election commission. The absence of unified electronic database of members of election commissions remains a burning problem. Creation of such database should become a key part of the process of capacity building and professionalization of election administration bodies.

The largest number of seats in PECs are held by representatives of “Servant of the People” party (14%), AUU “Batkivshchyna” (13%) and “European Solidarity” party (12%). “Opposition Platform - For Life” also has significant representation in precinct election commissions (10%). Other local organizations of parliamentary parties and deputy groups that entered into cooperation agreements with parties didn’t make full use of quota for mandatory inclusion of their representatives in PECs: “For the Future” party is represented in 8% of all PECs, “Holos” - in 5%, “Solidarity of Women of Ukraine” - in 2%. Overall, parliamentary factions and deputy groups dominate the composition of precinct election commissions. According to OPORA, their representatives account for 63% of PEC membership. A similar pattern can be observed at the level of TECs, where parliamentary forces control the work of 68% of commission members.

In general, executive positions in PECs (head, deputy head, secretary) were allocated among political parties in a fairly balanced and proportionate manner. Although the Electoral Code does not provide for proportionate distribution of each category of executive positions in the commissions created for holding local elections. In contrast, distribution of executive positions in the commissions formed for holding presidential and parliamentary elections depends on the number of candidates nominated to the commission by each entity. According to OPORA, 19-22% of representatives of parliamentary parties in PECs hold senior positions.

Representation of political parties in city PECs created in administrative centers of rayons and oblast centers without division into rayons (based on the data collected in 107 TECs)

Party	Total number of party representatives in PECs	Percentage of party representatives in PECs	Executive positions in PECs as a proportion of total number of party representatives nominated to these PECs
SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE	8 804	13.56%	19.35%
OPPOSITION PLATFORM – FOR LIFE	6 735	10.37%	19.79%
All-Ukrainian Union  “Batkivshchyna”	8 185	12.61%	20.45%
“EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY”	8 086	12.46%	20.91%
“HOLOS”	3 008	4.63%	19.08%
“For the Future”	5 040	7.76%	22.04%
“Solidarity of Women of Ukraine”	1 069	1.65%	26.47%
Other nominating entities	24 535	37.48%

Specifics of political advertising on social media in 2020 local elections in Ukraine

Social media play an increasingly important role with each passing election both as a tool for public communication and a platform for pre-election campaigning. The number of political advertisements posted on Facebook has almost doubled in 2020 regular local elections, compared to early parliamentary elections. As many as 86,964 political advertisements were published on Facebook in a matter of 44 days during the period from September 5 to October 19.

However, despite the growing influence of social media on election campaigns, the problem of legal regulation of pre-election campaigning on the Internet (in particular, on social networking sites) remains unresolved at the level of Electoral Code. Furthermore, the newly adopted election law doesn’t draw a distinction between political advertising and pre-election campaigning on the Web and other media.

The above-mentioned legislative uncertainty contributed to the fact that political forces began pre-election campaigning on social media long before the official start of the election campaign. In the June-August 2020 timeframe, OPORA identified more than fifty political parties that spent over 281 thousand dollars on 8,253 political advertising posts. The activity of Facebook pages rapidly intensified in the second part of August shortly before the official start of election campaign.

One of the positive changes in regulation is the adoption of CEC Resolution No.324 that defines the forms of financial reporting for all electoral subjects. In this resolution, the CEC approved separate classification codes to be used in financial reports for expenditures on political campaigning on the Internet, including social media. This change will help increase the transparency of the election process by providing an additional tool for monitoring campaign finance. However, in the absence of legislative mechanisms for monitoring political advertising it will be almost impossible to prosecute violators (for example, in the case of financing online campaigns from sources other than the election fund).

After the start of election campaign, that is, during the period from September 5 to October 16 Civil Network OPORA detected 6,220 unique pages that distributed political advertising materials on Facebook. During this period, political parties and candidates standing for election at different levels spent approximately $ 2.6 million (about 70 million UAH) on publication of political ads on Facebook.

Political forces intensified their activity on Facebook in the run-up to the election day. The number of active political ads and the total amount of money spent on their publication has increased by 6 times since the official start of election campaign. On October 17, political parties of Ukraine spent more than 150 thousand dollars on social media advertising in a single day, while at the beginning of campaign they were spending 30 thousand dollars a day.

Political parties are the ones who spent the largest amount of money since the official start of local election campaign on September 5. During the monitoring period, OPORA detected 79 political parties-electoral subjects that posted advertising materials to Facebook for campaigning purposes. According to Ad Library, political parties spent more than 1 million dollars on publication of 45.5 thousand advertising posts during this period.

Political parties that spent the largest amount of money on pre-election campaigning on Facebook

Party	Expenditures, USD	Number of pages
For the Future	377 063	63
Nash Krai	152 688	60
Servant of the People	148 263	74
European Solidarity	80 340	48
Holos	58 197	52
Propozytsia	48 796	42
Victory of Palchevskyi	41 483	6
Opposition Platform – For Life	41 745	20
Batkivshchyna	20 674	27
Dovira	16 473	2

“For the Future” party is the undisputed leader in terms of the amount of money spent on political advertising on Facebook - more than 370 thousand dollars. Moreover, the party has created one of the largest networks comprising 63 regional pages, thanks to which the party’s advertisements are targeted at the entire territory of Ukraine. Significant funds for political advertising in support of the party were provided by its leaders - Ihor Palytsia and Oleksandr Shevchenko that contributed more than 70 thousand dollars (almost 2 million hryvnias) and 43 thousand dollars (over one million hryvnias), correspondingly. Ihor Palytsia published 1,020 advertisements, while Oleksandr Shevchenko - 644. The party conducted a separate campaign on promotion of gender equality using the official page of Women’s Movement “For the Future” at a cost of more than 35 thousand dollars.

 “Nash Krai” wasn’t very active at the beginning of election campaign, but in the second half of September the party intensified its activity and spent more than $ 150,000 (over UAH 4 million) on political advertising on Facebook. Campaigning activity on social media, for the most part, was carried out on the main page of the party that spent more than 110 thousand dollars on online advertising. “Nash Krai” is primarily focused on women aged 35+ that account for more than 62% of party’s target audience. The party placed emphasis on users in Chernihiv, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts and paid less attention to users located in western and central regions.

“Servant of the People” ranks third in terms of total spending on social media campaigning. The party invested $ 148,000 (almost 4 million UAH) in online advertising during the monitoring period. Furthermore, the party created the largest network of regional pages (47 pages) that served advertising on Facebook. The party is primarily focused on young people aged 25-44 (they account for more than  52% of party’s target audience) and places special emphasis on users located in Dnipropetrovsk, Rivne and Poltava oblasts.

“European Solidarity” spent nearly $ 80,000 (approximately 2.2 million UAH) on social media campaigning. The party created 48 pages that served advertising on Facebook. Almost 61% of all advertising posts were viewed by people aged 35-54. During the monitoring period, the most intensive activity was conducted on the page “European Solidarity – Kyiv” that spent more than 36 thousand dollars on campaigning.

“Holos” party ranks fifth on the list of big spenders after investing more than 58 thousand dollars (1.5 million UAH) in social media campaigning. The party got active in late September-early October and used 52 pages to serve advertising on Facebook. “Holos” was primarily focused on users in western regions - Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts as well as Kyiv. People aged 35+ account for 59% of party’s target audience.

“Propozytsia” party spent about $ 48,000 (1.3 million UAH) on online campaigning. The party used 42 pages to serve advertising on Facebook. In contrast to other political forces, “Propozytsia” was more active at the beginning of the election campaign and placed emphasis on narrow-target audience in specific towns (ProPyatyhatky, ProMarganets), rather than oblasts. A large portion of party’s advertising posts mentioned Borys Filatov (mayor of Dnipro and the leader of “Propozytsia” party) and urged people to distrust Volodymyr Zelensky. The party’s attention was primarily focused on, but not limited to users in Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr oblasts.

“Victory of Palchevskyi” party spent $ 42,000 (almost 1.2 million UAH) on 654 advertising posts. The party used only 6 pages to serve advertising on Facebook and often resorted to indirect financing of online ads through the use of namesake NGO. The party’s attention was primarily focused on Kyiv, but some of its advertising posts are also targeted at users in Odesa and Mykolayiv oblasts.

“Opposition Platform - For Life” spent almost 42 thousand dollars (1.18 million UAH) on 2,627 advertising posts. The party used 20 pages to serve advertising on Facebook. “Opposition Platform - For Life” often criticizes the central government and talks about its candidates that stand for election at different levels. The party is primarily focused on women (they account for 66% of party’s target audience) located in Dnipropetrovsk oblast (60% of the target audience). A significant number of advertising posts are also targeted at users in Sumy, Chernihiv and Zakarpattya oblasts, the latter being the only target region in western Ukraine.

AUU “Batkivshchyna” ranks ninth on the list of big spenders, having paid almost 21 thousand dollars (590 thousand hryvnias) for 806 advertising posts. The party used 16 pages to serve advertising on Facebook. It is noteworthy that the majority of these pages campaigned for “Batkivshchyna’s” candidates for mayors and local deputies, but not for the party itself. The party is primarily focused on users in Kyiv (more than 40% of party’s target audience – corresponding page Batkivshchyna. Kyiv), as well as Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Zakarpattya oblasts.

“Dovira” party spent more than 16,000 dollars (432,000 hryvnias) on online campaigning and used only two pages to serve advertising on Facebook (Dovira Poltava and Dovira Ternopil). The vast majority of party’s campaigning activities are carried out in the form of opinion polls and videos featuring candidates. “Dovira” is primarily focused on users in Ternopil and Poltava oblasts, while women make up the majority of party’s target audience (67%).

Mayoral candidates also conducted intensive campaigning activity on Facebook. During the period from September 5 to October 12, OPORA detected more than 598 pages that were used by candidates to serve political advertising. They spent nearly $500,000 on 23,816 advertising posts. Candidates for deputies to oblast, city and township councils displayed very high campaigning activity in early October.

Expenditures on political advertising of candidates (September 5 – October 20)
Candidate	Expenditures
Iryna Vereshchuk	47046
Oleksiy Kucher	22463
Vitali Klitschko	18382
Oleh Synyutka	17051
Andriy Sadovyi	16493
Oleksandr Udovichenko	14741
Serhiy Prytula	14439
Taras Klyofa	12103
Vitaliy Druhanovsky	10811
Ihor Vasyunyk	10653

Candidate for mayor of Kyiv representing “Servant of the People” party Iryna Vereshchuk spent the largest amount of money on online advertising, putting aside the high-profile incident of distribution of political advertisements through a network of anonymous pages in favor of Andriy Palchevskyi. Furthermore, Iryna Vereshchuk posted the largest number of advertising messages (3847 posts) on the Internet at a cost of 47 thousand dollars (more than 1,300,000 hryvnias). Each day the candidate posted 1-100 political advertisements that were displayed on a daily basis. The majority of Vereshchuk’s posts were aimed at users aged 25-44 (49.29% of candidate’s total target audience).

Iryna Vereshchuk’s fellow party member and a candidate for mayor of Kharkiv Oleksiy Kucher ranks second on the list of mayoral candidates who spent the largest sums of money on online advertisements. He paid nearly 22.5 thousand dollars (more than 600 thousand hryvnias) for 125 advertising posts on Facebook. It is noteworthy that a significant part of candidate’s online advertisements was financed by civic organization “Team of Zelensky”. Some of his advertising posts do not contain information about the source of funding in violation of the rules of advertising on Facebook. Women make up the majority of candidate’s target audience on Facebook (61.21%), his advertising messages are targeted exclusively at residents of Kharkiv.

Third place on the list of biggest spenders is occupied by candidate for mayor of Kyiv representing “UDAR” party Vitali Klitschko who paid more than 18 thousand dollars (over 500 thousand hryvnias) for 201 advertising posts. Candidate’s advertising messages were unevenly distributed over the course of the election campaign: all political advertisements were published in the span of one week. Men aged 25-44 account for one-third of candidate’s target audience.

Candidate for mayor of Lviv representing “European Solidarity” party Oleh Synyutka posted 533 advertising messages costing more than 17,000 dollars (almost 500,000 hryvnias). Part of candidate’s online advertisements was financed by Lviv branch of “European Solidarity” party. During the monitoring period, the candidate published political advertisements almost every day. Sinyutka’s target audience is slightly younger than the audiences of other candidates - users aged under 44 account for nearly 70% of his targeting.

One more candidate for the position of mayor of Lviv representing “Samopomich” party Andriy Sadovyi spent more than 16 thousand dollars (almost 360 thousand UAH) to post 103 advertising messages on social media. Women make up the majority of Sadovyi’s target audience - 63.5%.

OPORA paid special attention to a network of three anonymous pages that distributed candidates’ approval ratings having all the markings of fake polls throughout the election campaign. This network included the following pages: Ukraine Online, Free Ukraine and Association of Taxpayers. Kyiv. All three of them simultaneously posted the results of fake polls with inflated rating of candidate for mayor of Kyiv Andriy Palchevskyi. Overall, the three pages spent about 35 thousand dollars on promotion of these posts. Furthermore, OPORA discovered that these pages used fake accounts to promote the posts and leave exclusively positive feedback on Andriy Palchevskyi. Such deliberate misconduct violated the internal rules of Facebook. As of October 22, all three pages were blocked, and a large number of fake accounts were deleted. In September 2019, Facebook blocked several pages and accounts linked to websites ZNAJ.ua and Politeka.net that were engaged in similar improper activities during early parliamentary elections.

Breaking the electoral law and democratic standarts

Although the campaign was generally competitive, a key challenge remains – there is a high number of repeated cases of breaking the election standards and the unsatisfactory statistics of minor electoral fraud recorded by the law-enforcement and by OPORA observers. 

In October, the most frequent violations of electoral law detected by OPORA observers were related to the placement and dissemination of printed campaigning materials without the source data and the facts of placing printed campaigning materials in unauthorized sites (as of October, 22, the total number of verified cases went over 700). Smaller numbers, but no less serious, though, were recorded for cases of indirect voter bribery, such as unlawful handing out of goods and services to voters (over 60 cases, but with decreased intensity in the recent weeks). Cases of abusing administrative resources were repetitive, too (48 cases in total). Their actual scale is much higher in part of breaking democratic standards of elections, rather than of formal legal rules.

In addition to irregularities related to campaigning, the most common types were the cases of procedural infringement by territorial and precinct commissions related to the implementation of stages in formation of election commissions, holding the opening meetings by precinct election commissions, registration of candidate lists and the production of ballot papers (the total of 84 verified cases as of October, 22).

Illegal campaigning

The completion of the stage of official registration of candidates for deputies and for local heads did not have a huge positive effect on the campaigning activities of electoral actors in part of legalization of their financial expenses. The earlier installed campaigning materials on the outdoor media continued to be in use also during the official campaign. Those were only several parties that brought their campaigning materials in line with the formalities of the law (completely updated their campaigning billboards).

In October, there have been increased numbers of campaigning materials located in the unauthorized places, and against the rules of production. Most often, the campaigning materials were located at public bus-stops, in community facilities, in administrative buildings, and at lamp posts. These forms of illegal campaigning were used by political parties and by candidates for deputies or for heads of hromadas. Whenever OPORA representatives recorded such situations, they also reported them to law-enforcement bodies. The police drew protocols on administrative offence, in case there were confirmed facts, under Article 212-13 of CUAO.

The unfailing high statistics of breaking campaigning rules implies that electoral actors intentionally tried to evade the legal formalities, as they relied on the lack of any serious sanctions and limited capacity of the competent authorities to identify and record such cases. The fact that various electoral actors used such technologies also shows the inefficiency of the mutual control system coming from political actors, to control the adherence to standards and the law by the actors. On the other hand, attempts to escalate electoral conflicts prevail, such as through damaging or destroying outdoor advertising media with the campaigning posts, the street tents, cases of sharing materials with elements of dirty campaigning, running disinformation campaigns.  

Along with this, active efforts of the law-enforcement bodies shall be distinguished. They aimed at systematic recording of such violations and bringing to administrative liability for breaking the campaigning rules. According to observers, one of the consequences of police interference is a situational response and adjustments of irregularities by electoral subjects, such as by adding the data on commissioners, the print, and the circulation, or through correcting the materials for political ads.

Abuse of administrative resource

In the last month of election campaign, cases of abusing administrative resource in favour of various authorities have grown in numbers, regardless of the broad awareness campaign and targeted informing of public officials on the unacceptable forms of campaigning. Most common perpetrators are representatives of local authorities and key public officials from local self-government. In most communities, the incumbent local heads and deputies are running for the second term. Consequently, it incentivizes the practices of using their official status and public resources for campaigning purpose. Specifically, local heads widely use the information on improvement works and infrastructure upgrade actually implemented under budget funds as their personal achievements, for campaigning and promotion processes.

The most systemic illustration of the use of administrative resource for the purpose of covert campaigning is the implementation of the “Public Construction” program, and also other projects within the scope of the State Fund for Regional Development, such as the subvention for social-economic development of regions. Public events within the governmental public programs engage local officials who also act as electoral subjects at the same time.  The electoral elements of such public programs manifest themselves in increased intensity and the scale of public events, to promote their implementation outcomes shortly before the start of election process and during the entire campaign period. The problem is that local self-government bodies similarly used local budget funds to present the implemented, current, and planned infrastructure projects as an element of election ampaigning (Ivano-Frankivsk, Odesa, Cherkasy, Lviv, Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolayiv Oblasts).  

The fact that electoral actors abuse their authority and status for campaigning purpose distorts the principle of equal opportunities for parties and candidates, when they can gain unfair advantage even when formally adhere to the law.

Material incentives to voters

In terms of statistics for the irregularities identified and verified by OPORA, the material incentives for voters are some of the key challenges for local elections that might have a negative effect on voting results. In this context, the prevailing technology is the indirect bribery. It is about offering unlawful benefits to voters and legal entities accompanied with campaigning, mentioning the candidate name, the name of a political party nominating the candidate, or using the image of a candidate or party symbols.

Unlike the previous month, when most potential candidates were active in charity events with elements of campaigning, in October, the number of recorded cases of material incentives to voters has decreased. It can be explained by the change of legal status of the registered electoral actors, and by the intense interest from police to any elements of voter bribery.

A key form of indirect voter bribery is handing out to voters food products, gifts, offering free of charge services (social assistance), arranging the territory improvement projects (playgrounds, installing benches), also accompanied by mentioning names of candidates or party organizations, or by hidden campaigning.

According to OPORA observers, social media also share multiple posts about voter bribery attempted by candidates. On the one hand, the cases indicate to the actual problem, as evidenced by the high-impact cases recorded by the police. On the other hand, sharing such messages is still a popular method of disinformation campaigns.

You can find a more detailed description of all types of violations identified and recorded by OPORA represented on the Map of violations.

Offences related to election process at local elections

According to the National Police, since the start of election process, as of 7 a.m., on October, 20, they have registered 5,881 claims and reports related to election process. 

Charges were served under 2 criminal proceedings under Article 160 of the CC (voter bribery) in Kyiv and Odesa Oblasts, and under 2 criminal proceedings under Article 157 of the CC (obstruction to the exercise of suffrage) in Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad Oblasts.

22 criminal proceedings were dismissed: 11 cases – under Article 160 of the CC (voter bribery), 9 – under Article 157 of the CC (obstruction to the exercise of suffrage), 2 – under Article 158 of the CC (submitting fake data to the register), 1 – under Article 159-1 of the CC (breaking the rules for funding the election campaign). 

The total number of protocols on committing an election related administrative offence filed by the police is 1,367:

It shall be noted that under Article 212-9 of CUAO (breaking the rules of campaigning in mass media), the police is not the competent authority to draw a protocol.

Judicial consideration of protocols on administrative offence

The Unified State Judicial Register published almost 200 court decisions. Of them, 73 cases were sent back to police for further processing (for proper filing). About 80 cases, faced a guilty verdict. 48 cases were closed, for lack of the fact and the elements of administrative offence, or the courts issued only verbal warnings.

Typical causes for sending the materials back for further follow-up/finalization: 

• no evidence was provided that the stated materials included a text of campaigning nature, rather than the information report (cases No 208/6622/20, No 208/6734/20);
• the protocol failed to mention a name, the address of witnesses, explanations, or testimonies by witnesses (cases No 328/2012/20, No 567/1106/20);
• the police officer failed to provide for the presence of a person targeted in the administrative protocol within the set terms (case No 571/1419/20);
• the protocol on administrative offence is drawn in an illegible handwriting, the materials arrived to the court unbound, and with no certifying statement on the number of pages in the file (in cases No 335/8557/20, No 335/8556/20,  335/8554/20, No 750/9118/20);
• the protocol stated the wrong address of a person brought to liability (case No 335/8551/20), a prosecuted person’s last name (case No 346/4114/20),  no place of commission the administrative offence is stated, such as a settlement, street name, building where the materials were produced, time of production (No 197/1044/20).
• No specific part of the Article is stated to prosecute a person (No 164/1454/20, No 486/1529/20, No 534/1500/20) or no Article mentioned at all (No 496/4059/20);
• the materials do not contain any evidence that a prosecuted person is a director of an advertising agency owning the billboard with political campaigning, or another person in charge of the print (No 750/8855/20, 127/22123/20).
• the protocol used a reference to the law that had lost ist effect – the Law of Ukraine “On Local Elections” (case No 369/12193/20).

Cases under Article 212-9 of CUAO (breaking the rules for election campaigning engaging the mass media, and the rules to participate in the information support of elections)

The register includes 2 cases in this category. One of them, on the case No 346/4093/20 a head of information policy department from Kolomyia city council was brought to liability under Art. 212-9 of CUAO. She was claimed to break the rules under par. 6 Art. 51 of Electoral Code of Ukraine, such as she posted a video on Facebook with elements of election campaigning for a candidate to the position of the head of Kolomyia amalgamated territorial hromada PERSON_2, thus showing preference for the specific candidate. In case No 328/2012/20, the materials were sent back to the National Police body two times. The grounds for bringing to liability are the materials of police, but the police are not authorized to draw protocols under this Article.

Cases under Article 212-10 of CUAO (breaking the restrictions on running the election campaign, referendum campaign)

The register includes 16 decisions under this Article, in 5 cases, the proceedings were closed due to the lack of the fact and the elements of administrative offence. In 7 cases, the materials were sent back for finalization. Persons were found guilty and brought to liability in 4 cases, specifically in 3 cases – for campaigning beyond the set terms (early campaigning). For example, in the case No 297/2115/20 , a person was found guilty because on August, 15, 2020, in the town of Beregove, they placed party campaigning on a billboard, before the official registration. It shall be mentioned that as of August, 15, the candidate nomination process had not started yet. Therefore, no party could have a status of an election actor, while the court had to close the case for lack of elements and fact of administrative offence. 

In the case No 372/3264/20, a person was brought to liability under Art. 212-10 of CUAO, for placing campaigning materials on September, 24, 2020, on a taxi car in the town of Ukrayinka, Obukhiv district, Kyiv oblast. The campaigning was manifested in placing a photo with names of candidates for local elections and the symbols of the “Servant of the People - Ze!” party, with a campaigning slogan “The town needs to be saved.” In this case, the actions should have been qualified under Art. 212-14 of CUAO.

A typical example of closing the proceedings under this category is the case No 607/16538/20, where according to the protocol, in the city of Ternopil, it was installed an outdoor advertising medium (a billboard), with the caption “Our goal is the European Ternopil. European Solidarity Ihor Vons.” According to the claimant, it included pre-election campaigning elements. The court stated that upon analyzing the documents presented in the case, in aggregate and in interrelation, the court failed to detect any evidence that could imply the pre-election campaigning was run beyond the terms set by Art. 52 of the EC of Ukraine, since the materials of the case did not contain any information on when the election commission adopted a decision to register the candidate, or whether the decision had been ever taken. The protocol did not contain any evidence to confirm that a person protocoled, or the Ternopil territorial organization of the “European Solidarity” political party were electoral subjects.

Cases under Article 212-13 of the CUAO (production or dissemination of printed campaigning materials with no “source data” thereon)

The register published about 120 decisions on bringing to liability under Article 212-13 of CUAO. In less than half of them, persons were brought to liability; about 20 cases were sent for finalization; in other cases the proceedings were dismissed, or a decision was made about discharging the liability (paying the penalty) for petty nature of the offence, and a verbal warning issued.

There were frequent cases when one proceeding combined cases on one person under different infringements. Thereat, on the grounds of part 2 Art. 36 of CUAO, the penalty shall be imposed within one maximum sanction. The record breaker in this respect is the Irpin city court of Kyiv Oblast – on the case No 367/6334/20 they combined the proceedings under 11 files transferred to the court. A person brought to liability placed printed campaigning materials on 11 billboards to support 7 different parties. The person was found guilty, and a penalty was imposed in the amount of UAH 51. In addition, in the case No 724/1474/20, 6 cases were combined into one proceeding under Art. 212-13 of CUAO on the placement of printed campaigning materials on billboards, without the source data. Decisions were also made on the combined proceedings on cases 538/1805/20, 346/4073/20,  447/2817/20, 285/3855/20. In all the cases, it is typical to have a situation when under Art. 36 of CUAO the penalty shall be imposed within one sanction set for the more serious offence among the committed cases. At the same time, the court fee in profit of state for the consideration of the cases (UAH 420.40) was charged in all cases.

Article 212-14 of CUAO (breaking the rules for placing campaigning materials or political ads, or placing them in unauthorized locations)

Under this category, 37 decisions were published. In some of them, courts dismissed persons from responsibility, for the petty nature of offence, only issuing a verbal warning; in about 13 cases, materials were sent back for further processing (finalization) to the police.

In the following cases, persons were found guilty and brought to liability:

• in the case No 943/1846/20  a person was brought to liability for placing campaigning materials of the “Power of the People” political party, without permits from local self-government, and in unauthorized places 
• in the case No 939/1945/20  a person was brought to liability  for placing a campaigning banner on a fence of the house of culture owned by local self-government
• a person was found guilty who was a public official in the period from September, 25, 2020, to October, 02, 2020. Specifically, it was a director of a motor transport enterprise who allowed to locate campaigning materials on the external face of public transport vehicles owned by the company (case No 233/4492/20).
• a person was found guilty who was posting campaigning materials on a public bus stop (case No 753/16896/20).

In many cases of this category, the courts dismiss the cases for being minor offences, and only use verbal warning. For example:

• in the case  No 361/6736/20 a person was dismissed from liability and a verbal warning was issued for posting printed campaigning materials inside a fixed-route taxi;
• in the case No 943/1857/20 – for placing a campaigning tent of a political party without the due permit from local self-government bodies, in an unauthorized location;
• in the case No 943/1867/20 – posting a banner of a candidate for regional council deputy on the building of a public institution.

As we can see, the court practices lack uniformity or set criteria to make decisions about a dismissal from liability for the petty nature of offence. Thus, actions similar in nature may be interpreted as the grounds for different types of decisions. 

Obstruction to candidates` campaigning activities and use of force against electoral subjects

An important precondition for democratic elections is to provide for personal security of voters and candidates, and no impediments for free conduct of campaigning events. OPORA observers held a systemic monitoring for cases of obstructing activities of candidates and local organizations of political parties, cases of damaging their campaigning materials, and reports from electoral subjects about illegal actions towards them. 

The organization hereby records a rather high conflict level of the election process that involved a series of attacks on candidates and their campaigners, destruction or damage of their property and campaigning materials. There were common reports from candidates about obstruction to their activities that require due investigation by the National Police of Ukraine. 

OPORA calls upon Ukraine’s law-enforcement bodies to actively control the situation with possible clashes or confrontation during elections, and to respond resolutely to violence against electoral actors, especially during the stages of voting, vote count, and the establishment of voting results.

In October, OPORA observers recorded a series of attacks on candidates, damage of their personal property or threats to them. The observers do not have any evidence to confirm or refute the incidents, that is why observers highlight the need to more thoroughly investigate all the circumstances.

Examples of incidents involving physical attacks:

• In Slovyansk, Donetsk Oblast, local mass media informed about an unidentified person attacking with a knife Pavlo Prydvorov, a candidate for the city mayor (“Opposition Platform – For Life”).
• In Beryslav, Kherson Oblast, the police are investigating the attack on candidates and other representatives of the “Opposition Platform – For Life” party. According to the regional organization of the political party, six unidentified persons in facemasks and with bats broke into an apartment with party representatives in, spilled the brilliant green paint over them and stole a laptop. 
• In Zaporizhzhia, the police are investigating the circumstances of a fireshot by an unidentified person at the car of Serhiy Kyryk, a candidate for a deputy of Zaporizhzhia city council from the party organization “For the Future”, where he stayed in.
• In the township of Rudno, unidentified persons organized a fight with Bohdan Kalichak, a candidate for a deputy to Lviv city council (“People’s Movement of Ukraine”) and damaged his car. During the incident, the candidate’s father was hospitalized.
• In Uzhgorod, Transcarpathia region, a candidate from a party organization of “Razom Syla” (lit. – “Strong Together”) Oleksandr Peresoliak complained to the police about being attacked by unidentified persons.
• In Myrnohrad, Donetsk Oblast, local organization of the “Batkivshchyna” AU reported about the attack on Viktor Tryfonov, their candidate for the city mayor. 
• Local party organization of “Nash Kray” reported about the beating of Bohdan Holubchynyi, a candidate for a deputy to Fortechnyi district council in Kropyvnytskyi.
• Oleksiy Shostak, a candidate for the position of Malyn city mayor in Zhytomyr Oblast from the “Batkivshchyna” AU, complained to the police about being beaten during a conflict taking place during a campaigning event in the village of Lubovychi. 
• In Korosten, Zhytomyr Oblast, near the office of a self-nominated candidate for a city mayor, an explosion broke out. According to the available data, the unidentified disturbers could throw a grenade on the building rooftop. 

Examples of cases involving damage to candidates’ personal property: 

• During the reporting period, cases were recorded on setting on fire cars of candidates for local elections in Drohobych, Lviv Oblast (a self-nominated mayoral candidate Andriy Veselyi), Mykolayiv (Denys Zhelo, a candidate for a city council deputy from the “Servant of the People” party), Obukhiv, Kyiv Oblast (Valekh Masgudov, a candidate for a city council deputy from the «Batkivshchyna» AU).

Examples of cases involving threats to candidates:

• Several candidates for deputies of Chornobay township council, Cherkasy Oblast, from the local party organization of “Opposition Platform - For Life” complained to the police about threats for them coming from an incumbent oblast council deputy Oleksandr Riaboshapko (“UKROP” party faction). The deputy posted on Facebook the photos with candidates from the “Opposition Platform - For Life” with comments including elements of indirect threats. 
• Serhiy Balitskyi, a candidate from the party organization of the “Servant of the People” for the position of Pidvysoke village head, Kirovohrad Oblast, complained about being pressurized by his rival, a former people’s deputy of Ukraine Viktor Lozynskyi. According to the candidate, Viktor Lozynskyi made him abandon the running for office, and met his parents for the conversation. Mr Viktor Lozynskyi refuted the claim. 
• Yuliya Paliychuk, a candidate for a deputy to Kyiv city council (“Servant of the People”) reported about investigative actions by the police about the threats she received, and about the investigation by the National Police of Ukraine of the multiple cases of damaging or destroying her campaigning materials.

Using violence to candidates’ campaigners

During the reporting period, OPORA observers recorded the cases of attacks on campaigners from local organizations of political parties and candidates. Specifically, the illegal actions were applied to campaigners of the “Opposition Platform - For Life” party (Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv), “Shariy Party” (Kremenchuk of Poltava Oblast), “European Solidarity” (Ivano-Frankivsk), “Batkivshchyna” AU (Ternopil), UDAR (Kyiv), a.o. In addition to violence against campaigners from political forces, there were recorded cases of vandalism against office facilities and public offices of the “Opposition Platform - For Life” party. The incidents were recorded in Mariupol and Kramatorsk of Donetsk Oblast, and in Sumy city. 

Destruction or damage to candidates’ campaigning materials 

According to OPORA observation findings, cases involving the damage of outdoor political ads of local party organizations and candidates were massive in nature; there were numerous cases of destroying candidates’ campaigning tents, stealing of printed campaigning materials. The most active parties experienced this form of obstruction to their campaigning activities, but the scale of damage of campaigning materials of the party organizations of the “Opposition Platform - For Life” is outstanding. Besides, other large-scale damage, according to OPORA observers, affected campaigning materials of the parties “or the Future,” “European Solidarity, “Servant of the People,” “Nash Kray.” Some attempts to destroy campaigning materials involved violence against campaigners, mentioned in this report above, or threats against candidates or their teams. 

Obstructions to candidates’ campaigning meetings

During the reporting period, OPORA observers recorded random cases of obstructions to mass events of candidates, or to their meetings with voters. For example, during the reporting period, a group of persons tried to prevent the car rally in Vinnytsia in support of the local organization of “Shariy Party,” and blocked the traffic. In Kyiv, Oleksandr Popov, a candidate for a city mayor from the party organization of the “Opposition Platform - For Life,” failed to have a meeting with voters in one of the city’s residential neighbourhoods, due to interference of NGOs and some candidates from other political forces. 

OPORA hereby reiterates for the electoral actors that standards of free elections provide, among other things, for no violence or threats, or any other actions that might obstruct free formation and free expression of will of voters. Attacks on candidates or obstruction to their lawful activities are not only a criminal or an administrative offence, but also a serious challenge to the democratic nature of election in general. 

On the final stage of election process, electoral actors shall refrain from any forceful confrontations, while law-enforcement bodies shall be more resolute in their response to cases of violence during elections. 

Potential cases of interference of foreign states into election process in Ukraine

Counteracting any external interference of foreign states into election process, such as coming from the Russian Federation, is a critical task of democratic states. The ability of the state to secure for their citizens the right for a conscious and informed choice includes the counteraction to disinformation, cyberattacks to the organization’s systems, and information and analytical support to elections, or illegal funding for candidates coming from foreign states. The capacity to fulfil this objective is based on the enhanced public resources to prevent risks, to consolidate civil society and political groups to resist foreign interference, and on systemic public awareness building. 

During the reporting period, Civil Network OPORA analyzed the complaint from the “European Solidarity” party about a letter they received from the Chief Board of the Security Service of Ukraine in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts addressing their party leader Petro Poroshenko. The letter requested to provide information on candidates from the party at local elections, to share their biographical data and references, and information on their expenses for campaigning.  The political party qualified the letter sent from an address resembling the Security Service official email as a form of political pressure. The Security Service of Ukraine officially dismissed the accusations and denied the possibility of sending the letter to the address of the political party leader. 

Since the document included suspicious features untypical for formal correspondence, OPORA suggested the “European Solidarity” party share the information of e-correspondence between the alleged Security Service of Ukraine and the political party. Upon receipt of the data from the party, OPORA explored the circumstances of the case in detail, as supported by the  Digital Security Laboratory (Ukraine) and an  International Center for Defense and Security (Estonia). 

The research findings led to the conclusions that the correspondence was a provocation, with the purpose of public discrediting of the Security Service, and to aggravate the public confrontation between electoral actors and public authorities in Ukraine. Specifically, a sender’s email imitated a formal domain name of the Security Service of Ukraine. In addition, the letter was sent from a free mailbox on the rambler[.]ru mailing infrastructure. You can find more details about the study at the link: https://www.oporaua.org/news/vybory/mistsevi-vybory/mistsevi_2020/rus_election_provocation

The circumstances, among others, show the need to conduct a comprehensive investigation by the Security Service of Ukraine, to focus on the fact of sending a provocative letter from a fake email of the security service to the political party’s address during the active campaigning process. In addition, OPORA made a public address to political parties, candidates, and voters to enhance their own capacity to resist cyberthreats or other disinformation and provocation technologies. Political actors, among others, shall display the poise when commenting suspicious cases before a comprehensive investigation into all the circumstances is conducted. 

Participation of Foreign Public Officials in Election Campaigning

During the reporting period, Civil Network OPORA addressed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and suggested providing an evaluation for the actions of Arpad Janos Potapi, a Hungarian State Secretary, on his nationalities policy, in terms of his adherence to the law of Ukraine in part of elections. OPORA observers detected a series of facts when the Hungary’s public official engaged in the election campaign to support a political party “KMKS “Party of Hungarians of Ukraine,” on his last visit to Transcarpathia Oblast and in social media. You can find more detailed accounts on infringements by Arpad Janos Potapi  at the link: https://www.oporaua.org/news/vybory/mistsevi-vybory/mistsevi_2020/21504-na-zakarpatti-derzhsekretar-ugorshchini-agituvav-za-odnu-z-partii-opora-zvernulas-do-mzs-shchodo-porushennia

Participation of foreign citizens in election campaigning is expressly prohibited by the Electoral Law, and calls for a due response from the state.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine rapidly responded to OPORA’s request through the comment from ministerial press-secretary. The comment informed about the formal request the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent to the police asking to qualify actions of Hungarian officials. At the same time, the Ministry made a statement about multiple cases of recording elements of political campaigning by Hungary’s public officials visiting Transcarpathia.

For their part, Civil Network OPORA, expect the public information by the law-enforcement on the investigation findings of facts of foreign officials engaging in election campaigning.

The proces of production and transfer of ballot papers

An important procedure of the reporting period was the production of ballot papers and their transfer from the producing company to the TEC in charge of the respective elections.

Electoral Code sets that the form and color of a ballot paper shall be approved by the CEC at least 30 days before the day of regular local elections (by September, 24, 2020), which Commission delivered on time. 

The TEC in charge of the respective elections shall approve the text of ballot papers at least 17 days before the election day (by October, 07, 2020). For each polling stations in each constituency, the number of ballots to be produced shall be 0.5 % higher than the number of voters included into election rolls at the respective polling station. A permissible variation may depend on the number of ballots within a polygraphic sheet during their production.

Parallel to the approval of the text for a ballot paper, the TEC shall establish a degree of protection for the ballot paper. In order to control the process of producing ballot papers, TEC shall establish a commission to control the process, based on nominations from local organizations of parliamentary parties.  

The Code lays out precise deadlines for production and receipt of ballots by TEC from a producing company. For elections to oblast councils, for local elections in cities with district-based division, the ballot papers had to be received by the TEC by October, 15; for elections of deputies to district councils, city district councils, and for elections in cities with no district-based division – by October, 18; for elections to local councils and respective heads in villages and townships, the final delivery of ballots shall be completed by October, 20. 

Regional TECs, that act as main TECs in charge of elections of deputies to oblast and district councils, had to transfer the ballot papers to city, village, and township TECs in charge of their transfer to the PEC level (by October, 18). The TEC for elections to district councils shall transfer ballot papers to city, village, and township TECs by October, 20. As to city TECs, in cities with district-based division, had to follow the same deadlines to transfer ballot papers for election of oblast, district councils, of the respective city council and city mayor to city district TECs. On the other hand, in cities without a district-based division, the ballots shall be transferred directly to PECs (not until October, 22). 

Observers from the Civil network OPORA provided the monitoring for the process of production and transfer of ballot papers for 152 TECs, that act as those in charge for  elections of deputies to oblast and district councils, to city, village, and township councils, and for city, village, and township heads. 

According to observation findings, OPORA identified the following peculiarities of production and transfer of ballot papers:

• 7 of the 152 TECs observed by OPORA failed to meet the deadlines for approval of texts of ballot papers and for setting the degree of protection on them. (Poltava regional TEC, Kremenets district TEC, Novomoskovsk TEC,  Fastiv city TEC, Kamin-Kashyrsk city TEC, Kremin city TEC, Kalush district TEC).
• Decisions of 62 TECs an approving the text of a ballot paper, within OPORA’s sample, did not include the possibility to mark the number of a polling station. Electoral Code lays out that in case a polygraphic printing company confirmed the technical possibility to do so, a TEC may make a decision to produce ballot papers with numbers of polling stations thereon. If is it technically unfeasible, the text of a ballot paper shall have a field for putting the number. Production of ballot papers including numbers of polling stations allows to more efficiently control their use, and to prevent the uncontrolled circulation of ballot papers among polling stations. 
• For most TECs observed by OPORA, ballot papers were produced by polygraphic printing companies and individual entrepreneurs (72% of cases, 15% – companies of public and municipal ownership, in other cases observers failed to precisely establish the ownership status of the company producing ballot papers).
• Local party organizations with factions in Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine underused their right to nominate their candidates for members of controlling commission. They are entitled to do so by the Electoral Code. It empowers the established controlling commission to control the process of producing ballot papers at producing companies, in line with the rules for destroying printing forms, technical waste, printing defects, and ballot papers printed by mistake.
• No proposals from the parliamentary parties made impossible to establish the controlling commissions to supervise the production process for ballot papers at least at 7 TECs (of the 152 TECs observed by OPORA);
• According to OPORA provisional data, generated on the basis of their own sample of TECs, the right to submit candidacies for controlling commission was most extensively exercised by local organizations of the “Servant of the People” party (77 TECs). Local organizations of the “Batkivshchyna” AU nominated candidates for controlling commissions for a smaller number of TECs (71), local organizations of the “European Solidarity” party – 63, “Opposition Platform - For Life” – 54. The smallest number of TECs, in this regard, was covered by local organizations of the “Holos” party (18).  It shall be taken into account that parliamentary parties, their local organizations have different numbers of candidates for local elections, and thus, different motivation to control the process of ballot papers production.  In some cases, TECs were establishing controlling commissions on the basis of candidates suggested by local organizations of non-parliamentary political parties, regardless of the fact that it is not provided by the law. 
• OPORA observers failed to detect any practical activities of the 34  controlling commissions established by TECs intended to control the production of ballot papers, despite the efforts undertaken to explore the peculiarities of their operations. It may indicate the formal approach from local party organizations and TEC members to the functioning of such commissions. On the othe hand, the production of ballot papers at companies in other regions (often in Kyiv)  disabled the actual control from the members of the commissions. 
• Some TECs failed to meet the deadlines in producing ballot papers and receiving them from producing companies (such as in Bila Tserkva city TEC, Yavoriv district TEC, Kryvyi Rih TEC, Kharkic Oblast TEC, Kherson Oblast TEC, Sumy Oblast TEC, Kirovohrad Oblast TEC, Ivano-Frankivsk district TEC, Bilhorod-Dinstrovskyi district TEC).  Failing the deadlines for receiving the ballot papers were caused by different circumstances, starting with lack of transport, and ending with technological issues at producing companies. Breaking the deadlines for receiving ballot papers from producing companies caused the delays in transferring them to other TECs, in line with the Electoral Code. 
• Within OPORA’s sample, mistakes in the produced ballot papers were detected in 5 cases (at elections to Voznesenska district council, Henichesk district council, Vyzhnytsia district council, Kherson district council, Chernivtsi district council). According to OPORA observers, Henichesk district TEC had to repeatedly produce over 24,000 ballots. The experience of previous elections shows that electoral actors are getting more active in detecting mistakes in ballot papers shortly before the start of election process, which may largely undermine the election process. 
• In some regions of Ukraine, the National Police of Ukraine started investigating cases related to the process of producing and transferring ballot papers. For example, on the basis of a complaint filed by a representative of a local organization of the “Opposition Platform - For Life” party, the police are investigating the circumstances for the detected lack of ballot papers at elections to Kharkiv city council and for the respective city mayor, on the stage of receiving them from the producing company.

Thus, the process of production and receipt of ballot papers only recorded such irregularities as random TECs breaking the set deadlines, low interest of local organization of political parties in controlling functions granted by the Electoral Code, and some mistakes detected in the text of printed ballot papers in some communities. OPORA calls upon TECs, PECs, and the law-enforcement authorities to duly provide for the storage of ballot papers before the election day, and to proactively respond to notifications about violations of the law related thereto.

Judicial appeals in local elections

Cases on illegal campaigning and indirect bribery of voters 

In case No. 200/9091/20-a the court considered the matter of alleged indirect bribery of voters committed by mayoral candidate who provided commodity and material valuables to kindergartens within the framework of pre-election campaigning. The fact of provision of valuables was mentioned by the candidate himself in the message posted to candidate’s official page on Facebook. The candidate was registered on September 28, 2020, while the message was posted to Facebook on September 29, 2020. The court dismissed the claims on the ground of defendant’s explanations stating that the aforementioned valuables were provided to kindergartens on September 28, 2020, while the photos posted to Facebook page by an unknown person were taken on the morning of September 28, 2020, at about 9 and 11 a.m. The defendant further explained that not only he, but also members of campaign headquarters had access and, consequently, the opportunity to post information to the aforementioned page. During the court hearing, it was pointed out that the candidate owns three pages on Facebook. The court examined the defendant’s page on Facebook and noted that the page is not verified meaning that defendant’s ownership of the page is unconfirmed. In the end, the court concluded that there is no valid reason to believe that the event depicted in photos took place on 29 September 2020, that is, after registration of the candidate.

In cases No. 583/3586/20, No. 583/3561/20, No. 583/3562/20, No. 583/3563/20 , No. 583/3754/20 Okhtyrka city district court in Sumy oblast also considered the matter of alleged bribery of voters. In particular, in case No. 583/3586/20 a candidate appealed against the actions of rival candidate for the position of head of Chernechchyna village council (located in Okhtyrka rayon of Sumy oblast), who allegedly broke the restrictions on indirect bribery of voters and pre-election campaigning with the involvement of subordinates (deputy head of village) by way of handing out letters of thanks and congratulatory letters at the meeting with adoptive parents, guardians, trustees and foster parents on September 30, 2020. The courts dismissed this appeal on the ground of media publication showing that deputy head of village congratulated meeting participants on the occasion of National Adoption Day and religious holiday on behalf of incumbent head of village, while the publication itself does not contain any proposals or calls to vote or refrain from voting for the defendant candidate or any other person, nor does it mention the name of the defendant candidate for the position of head of village council. The screenshots of Facebook posts that were provided by plaintiff do not substantiate the arguments presented in the statement of appeal concerning the use of material incentives as a campaigning tool. In case No. 583/3561/20 involving the same parties the plaintiff appealed against the actions of candidate who allegedly used his official position and transport to hand out certificates of gratitude to employees of Chernechchyna village council and educational institution on the territory of Lutyshche starostat (council of prefects) and present gifts (surface and hand disinfectants) on behalf of people’s deputy of Ukraine M. Zadorozhny, who is a member of “Servant of the People” party just like the defendant. The plaintiff cited the publication on official website of Chernechchyna village council to provide evidence of covert bribery of voters. The courts dismissed the appeal due to the fact that the ceremony of awarding the educators is held on an annual basis with the participation of defendant-head of village acting within the scope of his powers, while the fact of presenting disinfectants to educational institutions of Chernechchyna village council on behalf of MP does not serve as evidence that the defendant broke the restrictions on pre-election campaigning.

In cases No. 160/12408/20, No. 160/12491/20, a candidate for the position of mayor of Kamianka appealed against publication of printed campaign materials financed from sources other than the election fund. The plaintiff documented facts of production and placement of campaign material by political party and was informed by TEC that the defendant didn’t open an election fund account. However, the courts dismissed the claims on the ground of information from the bank stating that the party opened an election fund account on October 2, 2020. The court arrived at the conclusion that “restrictions in the form of prohibition on publication of campaign materials without concluding a contract between the manager of candidate’s or party’s (local party organization) election fund account and the editorial board of print media with subsequent transfer of funds to contractor’s account applies only to political advertising in print media”, but not to outdoor advertising. Civil Network OPORA would like to draw the attention of courts to incompliance of such interpretation with the rules of substantive election law.

In case No. 357/10068/20, a candidate appealed to court with the aim of placing the defendant under obligation to refrain from publishing knowingly false information about plaintiff-candidate on Facebook. The court sustained candidate’s claim and stated that the published video of the speech contained misleading information about the candidate, namely, allegations of vote buying which were not supported by any evidence. The court obliged the defendant to refrain from campaigning by means of disseminating deliberately false information about the candidate.

In case No. 400/4461/20, on declaring illegal and revoking the order to step up anti-epidemic measures aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19 disease in the city of Yuzhno-Ukrainsk, the plaintiff stated that this order violates his right to freely conduct electoral procedures, including mass events, festivities and other forms of campaigning activity in crowded places. After analyzing the provisions of Article 75 of the Civil Protection Code of Ukraine, the court concluded that incident commander has no authority to impose a ban on campaigning activities. As a result, the claim was partially satisfied.

Cases related to violation of Electoral Code insofar as it refers to non-compliance with gender quota requirement

Unified State Register of Court Decisions includes about 70 cases on non-compliance of electoral subjects with gender quota requirement. In 48 cases, plaintiffs appealed against TEC refusal to register candidates on the ground of non-compliance with gender quota requirement; in 20 cases, plaintiffs appealed against TEC decision to register candidates whose registration documents allegedly fell short of the requirements of electoral law regarding compliance with gender quota; in 2 cases, plaintiffs appealed against the decisions of rayon TEC that overruled the decisions of township TEC on registration of candidates nominated by political parties. The decisions were overruled due to failure to bring registration documentation into conformity with legislative requirements for forming the list of candidates with due account for gender quota.

In 48 cases, the decisions of election commissions on denial of registration were challenged by electoral subjects (political parties) directly affected by these decisions. In 22 cases, the decisions on refusal to register candidates were appealed against by other subjects (political parties or candidates).

The results of analysis of the decisions of first instance and appellate courts show that court judges employed different approaches to considering cases of non-compliance with gender quota requirement. For example:

• In 8 cases (No. 460/7091/20, 460/7137/20, 400/4182/20, 500/2845/20, 280/6791/20, 420/9850/20, 240/16892/20, 520/13373/2020), the court overruled the decisions of TECs that registered the candidates for deputies to respective councils, without taking into account the inconsistency of submitted documents with the provisions of election law concerning compliance with gender quota requirement.
• In 4 cases (No. 460/7176/20, 320/8860/20, 420/10019/20) the court upheld the decisions of TECs that refused to register candidates nominated by political parties on the ground of incompliance of nomination lists with gender quota requirement. In some cases, such decisions weren’t appealed against and remained in force, while in others the appellate court overruled the decision of first instance court and obliged TECs to register candidates.
• In one case, TEC adopted a decision to register candidates despite the fact that registration documents did not meet the gender quota requirements (No. 280/6929/20). The court upheld this decision, but the appellate court overruled it and obliged the TEC to adopt a decision on denial of candidate registration. By contrast, in case No. 320/8745/20, the first instance court invalidated the decision of TEC on registration of candidate on the ground that the submitted documents did not comply with the law concerning gender quota requirement. However, the appellate court overruled the decision of first instance court and upheld the decision of TEC on candidate registration.
• In cases No. 420/9821/20, 580/4273/20, 580/4297/20, 580/4298/20, TEC refused to register candidates, but the first instance court invalidated this decision and placed the TEC under an obligation to re-examine submitted registration documents. In the latter two cases, the decision of first instance court was overruled by the appellate court, and the candidates nominated by political parties were denied registration after all.

Overall, in 44 cases the court overruled the decision of TEC, while in 22 cases the decision was upheld. Furthermore, in 23 cases the court placed the TEC under an obligation to register candidates for deputies to local councils; in 10 cases the commissions were obliged to re-examine submitted registration documents.

The practice of confirming the legitimacy of decisions on candidate registration or placing TECs under an obligation to register candidates following the resubmission of revised electoral list was quite common with the courts. The initial submission of electoral lists without meeting the gender quota requirement was interpreted as “technical errors and inaccuracies”.

Key examples:

• On September 25, TEC in Rivne oblast adopted a resolution No. 32 on denial of registration of the lists of candidates for deputies to Rivne oblast council on the ground that candidates No. 41 and No. 44 on single electoral list and candidates No. 6 and No. 7 on territorial electoral list (territorial constituency No. 7) are of the same gender. In case No. 460/7195/20, the decision on denial of candidate registration was invalidated. The courts stated that the initially submitted electoral lists contained errors, while the TEC failed to examine registration documents in a proper manner. The courts concluded that these errors were rectified, which is why TEC decision on denial of registration was overruled.
• In case No. 460/7176/20, Zdolbuniv city TEC refused to register lists of candidates for deputies to city council on the ground that the top five candidates (No. 1-5) on single electoral list submitted by Rivne oblast organization of “Servant of the People” party included 4 men and only 1 woman. The first instance court dismissed the party’s appeal against TEC resolution, but the appellate court overruled the decision of first instance court and obliged the TEC to register candidates. The decision of appellate court grounded on the fact that incompliance with gender quota requirement was a result of an error. In its statement of reasons, the appellate court cited the decision of ECHR in case “Geoffrey de la Pradel vs. France”, stating the inadmissibility of overformal approach to evaluating the compliance with legislative requirements.
• In case No. 460/7177/20 Zdolbuniv city TEC refused to register all candidates for deputies to Zdolbuniv city council included on electoral lists of Rivne oblast organization of “Nash Krai” party on the ground that candidates No. 11-15 on single electoral list are of the same gender (women). The court dismissed the party’s appeal against the decision of TEC on denial of candidate registration. In its statement of reasons, the court cited the decision of ECHR in case “Geoffrey de la Pradel vs. France" and clarifications provided by the CEC resolution No. 362 as of September 23, 2015.
• The court employed a noteworthy approach to evaluating the procedure for forming electoral lists in compliance with gender quota requirement when considering the case No. 460/7213/20 on refusal of Kostopil city TEC to register candidates for deputies to city council that were included on single and territorial electoral lists of AUU “Batkivshchyna” party. In particular, TEC refused to register electoral lists on the ground that candidates No. 6 and No. 7 on territorial electoral list (territorial constituency No.1) are of one gender, while candidates No. 8 and No. 9 on the same list are of another gender. The court invalidated the above-mentioned decision of TEC. In its statement of reasons, the court noted the breach of sequential order of candidates of different genders on single electoral list, but acknowledged that territorial electoral list complies with gender quota requirement. Based on the above, the court arrived at the conclusion that the breach of sequential order of candidates on single electoral list can’t serve as the only and sufficient basis for refusal to register candidates that were included on this list. Meanwhile, in case No. 420/9853/20, the court ruled that incompliance of certain sequences of five candidates with gender quota requirement can’t serve as sufficient basis for refusal to register of candidates under the condition that single electoral list meets 40% gender quota in general. Similar arguments were stated in the decision of court in case No. 420/9880/20. According to Civil Network OPORA, the reasoning behind aforesaid approach is highly questionable, given that compliance of both types of electoral lists and each particular sequence of five candidates with gender quota requirement is stipulated by Electoral Code.
• In case No. 460/7263/20, a candidate for deputy to city council representing “Opposition Platform – For Life” appealed against the decision of Rivne city TEC on registration of candidates for deputies to city council nominated by “Rivne Razom” party. An interesting thing about this case is that the plaintiff cited the fact that “Rivne Razom” party changed the sequential order of candidates on electoral list after submitting registration documents to TEC. The court dismissed the appeal on the ground that the party representative submitted a new set of documents for registration of candidates on September 24 at 22:47, which eliminated the errors made in the initially submitted documentation. The court noted the absence of breach of time limits for filing registration documents, since both the first and second set of documents were submitted to TEC on September 24, 2020.
• In case No. 500/2791/20, Ternopil oblast organization of AUU “Batkivshchyna” party appealed against the decision of Zbarazh city TEC on refusal to register candidates, citing a technical error in electoral lists that were submitted to TEC for registration. The court partially satisfied the appeal (the decision of TEC was invalidated, and the TEC was obliged to re-examine registration documentation) on the ground that the plaintiff made a technical error in electoral list of candidates submitted to the election commission. Case No. 500/2847/20, in which Ternopil oblast organization of AUU “Batkivshchyna” party appealed against the decision of Husiatyn township TEC, was considered by court in a similar manner. The appeal was partially satisfied (the decision of TEC was overruled, and the TEC was obliged to register the list of candidates). This example is illustrative of the way in which the courts decide similar cases, either leaving the matter to the discretion of TECs (placing TECs under an obligation to re-examine registration documents) or, on the contrary, obliging TECs to adopt a court-ordered decision on registration of candidates nominated by the party.

The above-mentioned judicial practice is quite debatable, given the fact that requirements set out in Section 7 of Article 227 of the Electoral Code of Ukraine explicitly provide for inadmissibility of changing the list and sequential order of candidates on single electoral list and each of territorial electoral lists formed by local party organization after submitting documents for registration to the territorial election commission. Therefore, the decisions of courts that grant permission to change sequential order of candidates without holding repeat nominating convention (party conference) do not comply with current election law.

In particular, in case No. 420/10019/20 the Fifth Administrative Court of Appeal overruled the decision of first instance court that obliged Odesa city TEC to register candidates. First instance court stated that incompliance with gender quota requirement resulted from technical errors in registration documents, citing Section 7 of Article 227 of Electoral Code and impossibility of changing sequential order of candidates without holding a repeat nominating convention or party conference on nomination of candidates.

In case No. 300/2520/20, Yaremche city TEC (Nadvirna rayon of Ivano-Frankivsk oblast) refused to register the list of candidates re-submitted by local organization of “Samopomich” party following on from the results of repeat nominating convention held due to TEC’s refusal to register the initially submitted list of candidates on the ground that candidates No. 21 and No. 22 on single electoral list were of the same gender (women). In particular, on September 24, 2020, the plaintiff resubmitted registration documents to Yaremche city TEC. On September 28, 2020, TEC adopted a protocol decision to leave resubmitted documents without consideration. In the opinion of TEC members, Electoral Code does not provide for the possibility of resubmitting documents after denial of registration. “Samopomich” appealed against TEC’s decision to leave resubmitted documents without consideration. The court satisfied the appeal, stating that the current law does not impose any restrictions on resubmission of documents to relevant election commission for registration of candidates for deputies; the decision to leave registration documents without consideration is admissible only in the case of filing of these documents after the expiry of the period of limitation for the filing thereof; adoption of protocol decisions that are incorporated in minutes of the meeting, but are not formalized in a separate document, is admissible only in relation to current activities of election commission, and the matter of candidate registration does not in any way relate to current activities of election commission.  Therefore, refusal to register a candidate must be formalized in a resolution as provided for in Article 37 of Electoral Code, but not in a protocol decision.

The courts either confirmed the legitimacy of decisions on denial of registration or invalidated the decisions to register candidates on the ground of incompliance with gender quota requirement:

Key examples:

• In case No. 460/7091/20, local organization of “Propozytsia” party appealed against the decision of Sarny city TEC on denial of registration of candidates for deputies to city council. The court dismissed the appeal, citing the decision of ECHR in case “Metka ZEVNIK and others vs. Slovenia” (application No. 54893/18) and stating that the introduced evidence clearly proves the incompliance of single electoral list of candidates with gender quota requirement, which constitutes a direct violation of Electoral Code and is qualified as a breach of procedure for nominating candidates established by the Code. Therefore, TEC decision on refusal to register candidates is well-grounded and fully conforms to Clause 1 of Section 1 of Article 230 of the Electoral Code of Ukraine.
• In case No. 500/2793/20, Ternopil oblast organization of “Civic Position” party appealed against the decision of Zbarazh city TEC on refusal to register electoral lists of candidates for deputies to oblast council. The TEC refused to register party lists of candidates on the ground that territorial electoral list (territorial constituency No.2) failed to meet gender quota requirement, and the official party seal wasn’t affixed to party’s election program. The plaintiff substantiated his appeal, citing the 2015 CEC Clarification of non-binding nature of gender quotas. The court  dismissed the appeal, stating that the absence of affixed official seal in party’s election program in itself does not constitute sufficient grounds for refusal to register candidates. However, the party also breached the procedure for nominating candidates when forming territorial electoral list, which is why the appeal was dismissed in its entirety.
• In case No. 460/7137/20, local organization of “Opposition Platform – For Life” party failed to meet gender quota requirement when forming single electoral list of candidates for deputies to Korets city council. In particular, the second and third sequences of five candidates on electoral list (candidates No. 6-10 and No. 11-15) didn’t comply with provisions of Section 9 of Article 219 of Electoral Code of Ukraine. The court satisfied the appeal and invalidated the resolution, citing the decision of ECHR in case “Zevnik and others vs. Slovenia” (application No. 54893/18) and stating that promotion of gender equality is the main goal of member states of Council of Europe. The court also ruled that the aforesaid interference in the matter pursued the lawful purpose of strengthening democratic legitimacy by way of achieving better balance between women and men in political decision-making process.
• In cases No. 500/2845/20 and  500/2844/20, local organization of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko appealed against the decisions of Buchach city TEC and Zolotyi Potik village TEC (Chortkiv rayon of Ternopil oblast) and demanded the cancelling of registration of candidates for deputies to city and village councils nominated by local organization of “Dovira” party. The court satisfied the appeal and obliged the TEC to reconsider the matter of registration of candidates for deputies to Buchach city council. In its statement of reasons, the court noted that local organization of “Dovira” party failed to meet the requirement for balanced representation of genders when forming  territorial electoral lists.
• In cases No. 500/2838/20, No. 500/3001/20, No. 500/3002/20, the party appealed against the decisions, actions and inaction of TECs located in Husiatyn, Buchach and Zolotyi Potik. In cases No. 500/2838/20, No. 500/3001/20, the appeals were satisfied, while in case No. 500/3002/20, the court partially satisfied the appeal and invalidated the decision of TEC. The courts deprive the parties affected by cancellation of candidate registration of any opportunity to resubmit corrected documents to the commission, or leave the matter of registration of candidates to the discretion of commission members. For example, in case No. 500/3001/20, TEC refused to register the list of candidates nominated by the aforesaid party after re-examining the documents in accordance with court decision.

In several cases (No. 420/9841/20, 420/9701/20, 540/2767/20), the courts drew conclusions on the non-binding nature of gender quota requirement from clarification approved by CEC Resolution No. 362 as of September 23, 2015. It should be noted that this clarification concerned the Law of Ukraine “On Local Elections”, and it was invalidated by the CEC on October 6, 2020. Therefore, the provisions of this clarification do not apply to regular and first local elections that are subject to Electoral Code.

In case No. 420/9904/20, despite the fact that elections of deputies to Vylkove city council are held under proportional representation voting system, the court concluded that the party should adhere to 30% electoral quota requirement as applied to elections in multi-member constituencies held under relative majority (plurality) voting system, rather than 40% gender quota requirement applied to elections in cities comprising more than 10,000 voters. In its statement of reasons, the court noted that the number of voters in Vylkove exceeds the mark of 10,000 registered voters only by 435. This example of judicial practice is illustrative of complete lack of understanding of the procedure for applying gender quota requirements and the principles for applying different types of electoral systems in local elections.

Given the conflicting and mutually exclusive interpretations of the matter of compliance with gender quota requirements as exemplified in court decisions, Civil Network OPORA calls on the Supreme Court of Cassation to generalize and develop a unified approach to applying the provisions of Electoral Code insofar as it relates to gender quota requirements.

Cases on security deposit to be paid by a proper entity as a condition for registration of candidates.

1. Political party as a proper payer of security deposit, rather than its local organization. In cases No. 500/2792/20, 500/2851/20, 500/2889/20, 500/2886/20, 500/2888/20, 500/2884/20, 500/2885/20, 500/2887/20, 500/2890/20, Ternopil territorial organization of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko appealed against the decisions of territorial election commissions on refusal to register candidates. These decisions grounded on the fact that political party - “Radical Party of Oleh Liashko” - was indicated as a “payer” in the order for payment of security deposit, which, in the opinion of TEC, violates the provisions of Clause 5 of Section 1 of Article 222 and Paragraph 4 of Section 2 of Article 225 of the Electoral Code of Ukraine and the CEC resolution No. 193 “On the procedure for paying, returning and transferring security deposits in local elections” as of August 21, 2020. In case No. 500/2792/20, the first instance court dismissed the appeal. However, the decision of Ternopil District Administrative Court was overruled by the Eighth Administrative Court of Appeal. After that, the remaining 8 appeals were satisfied by Ternopil District Administrative Court. In their statements of reasons, the courts noted that “Radical Party of Oleh Liashko” is a higher-level organizational unit of corresponding political party relative to the plaintiff within the meaning of Article 225 of the Electoral Code of Ukraine and clause 3 of the CEC Resolution No. 193 on the procedure for paying security deposits, which is why such payment is considered acceptable.

In case No. 640/22999/20, the panel of judges arrived at the conclusion that the transfer of security deposit made by political party “Democratic Axe” to the bank account of Kyiv city TEC for the purpose of registering candidates for deputies to Kyiv city council on behalf of Kyiv city organization of “Democratic Axe” (which is not a separate legal identity) does not violate the provisions of Section 4 of Article 225 of the Electoral Code of Ukraine and the CEC Resolution No. 193.

2. Improper payer of security deposit. In case No. 300/2598/20, local organization of “Opposition Platform – For Life” party appealed against the decision of Ivano-Frankivsk city TEC that refused to register its candidates for deputies for several reasons (in particular, due to the fact that payment of security deposit was made by improper person). The court dismissed the appeal. It should be noted that the court carefully examined the receipt of payment of security deposit and established that the payer of deposit is a private individual, while the purpose of payment is as follows: cash deposit of Ivano-Frankivsk regional organization of “Opposition Platform - For Life” party. As a result, the court found that private individual made a cash payment on his own behalf, which constitutes a violation of requirements provided for in Paragraph 3 of Section 2 of Article 225 of the Electoral Code of Ukraine, despite the fact this person is the chairman of Ivano-Frankivsk regional organization of “Opposition Platform – For Life” party . The court emphasized that monetary deposit is a guarantee of political party’s responsibility for its nominees to local councils, rather than a formal payment of money. The legal status of political party places it under an obligation to open bank accounts and use them to carry out financial activities in a transparent manner, including by way of submitting financial statements. Therefore, the receipt of payment submitted by the plaintiff can’t be considered as proof of payment of security deposit in accordance with the requirements of legislation.

In case No. 420/9856/20, the court emphasized that payment of security deposit by way of lodging cash money at the banking institution through the efforts of private individual and crediting them to the account of relevant territorial election commission can’t be considered as a cashless payment of security deposit made by local organization of political party that nominated a candidate for mayor or a higher-level organizational unit of corresponding party, as required by Section 2 of Article 225 of the Electoral Code of Ukraine.

Cases on non-uniform application of the provision of Electoral Code by TECs, which stipulates that errors and inaccuracies in registration documents of candidates shall not constitute sufficient grounds for denial of candidate registration, provided that such errors and inaccuracies do not present an obstacle to understanding the content of documents.

In case No. 240/17126/20, the court protected the plaintiff’s rights by way of invalidating the decision of TEC on refusal to register a candidate for artificial reasons (incorrect indication of the year of birth in candidate’s autobiography). The court placed Oliivka village TEC under an obligation to register a candidate for the position of head of village and noted that mistyping in candidate’s autobiography can’t be considered an error as provided for by the requirements of Electoral Code of Ukraine and does not constitute sufficient grounds for denial of registration.

Kirovohrad District Administrative Court considered cases No. 340/4104/20, 340/4226/20, 340/4441/20 concerning the refusal to register candidates for deputies to Dobrovelychkivka township council that were nominated by “European Solidarity”. The party appealed to the CEC for early termination of powers of Dobrovelychkivka township TEC. In particular, court decision on case No. 340/4441/20 as of October 12, 2020, declared illegal and invalidated TEC resolution No. 15 as of October 5, 2020, and resolution No. 17 as of October 7, 2020.  Dobrovelychkivka township TEC was placed under an obligation to register candidates for deputies to township council. Furthermore, the court took notice of the fact  that three changes of head of Dobrovelychkivka TEC have already taken place since the commencement of work of this commission, which is due to conflict between commission members over the matter of registration of candidates nominated by “European Solidarity”. Such actions of TEC are considered discriminatory by the court. In its decision, the court also noted that as many as four decisions on refusal to register candidates representing “European Solidarity” party have been appealed to Kirovohrad District Administrative Court since September 24. On October 15, the Central Election Commission adopted a decision on termination of powers of Dobrovelychkivka township TEC located in Novoukrainka rayon of Kirovohrad oblast, stating that the actions of Dobrovelychkivka township TEC are regarded as a systematic violation of the Electoral Code and the laws of Ukraine.

In case No. 300/2494/20, the plaintiff appealed against the decision of Nadvirna city TEC (Ivano-Frankivsk oblast) that refused to register him as a mayoral candidate. The TEC cited errors and inaccuracies in application documents as the reason for denial of candidate registration, in particular: the plaintiff applied for registration as a candidate for the position of head of non-existent Nadvirna city council in united territorial community without specifying the exact election, in which he intends to participate. Furthermore, the plaintiff made an error in his autobiography by indicating “self-nominated candidate” in the column “party affiliation”. The documents were submitted for registration on September 21, and on September 23 the plaintiff received an SMS message notifying him of the need to come to the TEC to rectify the errors in submitted documents. On September 25, the TEC adopted a decision on denial of candidate registration. The court noted that the plaintiff committed errors and inaccuracies, but they do not present an obstacle to understanding the content of submitted documents. The court is critical of SMS message, because the available evidence does not confirm the fact of receipt of SMS on plaintiff’s phone, nor does it provide any references to specified errors that need to be rectified by the plaintiff. Therefore, according to the court, the defendant failed to provide the plaintiff with all the necessary opportunities to eliminate the identified errors and inaccuracies in the manner prescribed by law. In view of the above, the court satisfied the appeal and obliged the TEC to register the plaintiff as a mayoral candidate.

Cases on breach of time limits  for registering candidates

On October 11, Odesa city TEC reconfirmed its decision on registration of candidate for the post of mayor of Odesa Dmytro Holubov, and soon afterwards it was challenged in court (case No. 420/10437/20). On October 13, the decision of TEC was declared illegal and invalidated. The first instance court established that the territorial election commission committed gross violation of the law. The appellate court upheld the decision of first instance court. The courts acknowledged that Odesa city TEC had no legal grounds to reconsider the documents submitted by the appellant on September 24, 2020, and adopt a resolution based on the results of reconsideration thereof  in accordance with the provisions of Section 6 of Article 64 of the Electoral Code of Ukraine which basically replicate the text of Resolution No. 93 invalidated by the court.

Appeal against the decisions and actions of Karolino-Bugaz village TEC

The courts of Odesa oblast adjudicated on 33 electoral disputes over the decisions and actions of Karolino-Bugaz village TEC located in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi rayon. In each of 33 cases, the decisions of TEC were declared illegal and invalidated. The TEC filed 14 appeals, all of which were dismissed by the appellate court that upheld the decisions of first instance court.

In the majority of cases (31 out of 33), the plaintiffs appealed against the decisions of TEC on  denial or cancellation of candidate registration. In particular, in 14 cases the plaintiff appealed against TEC decision on cancellation of registration which grounded on the fact that plaintiff violated the general procedure for nominating candidates insofar as it relates to simultaneous  nomination of one and the same candidate in different elections  (Sections 4 and 5 of Article 216 of the Electoral Code of Ukraine). The decision of TEC was substantiated by received evidence of registration of candidates in the elections held in territorial communities of Donetsk oblast. In all cases, the court noted the absence of such evidence.

Cases on guaranteeing the access of voters to electoral information

Case No. 200/9394/20-a was considered by Donetsk District Administrative Court. Based on the results of consideration, the court placed Kramatorsk city territorial election commission (located in Kramatorsk rayon of Donetsk oblast) under an obligation to provide the requester with open (public) information in accordance with Electoral Code of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information”. The requested information shall be provided in electronic form within 5 working days from the date of entry into force of the court decision and shall include all the details about each of the parties whose lists of candidates were registered to participate in the elections of deputies to Kramatorsk city council as of September 29, 2020, namely: single electoral list and all territorial electoral lists of candidates for deputies, including all the data as provided for by the Electoral Code; election program of local party organization; autobiographies of candidates; photos of candidates; and information about each of the candidates registered for participation in the election of mayor of Kramatorsk as of September 29, 2020: autobiography and photo of mayoral candidate. The above-mentioned court decision was reviewed by appellate court and upheld in general, except for requirement to indicate the phone number and residence address of candidate in autobiography  (as specified in Articles 6 and 7 of the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information”). As a result, the TEC was obliged to provide the requested documents, including autobiographies with the exception of aforesaid information.

Sumy District Administrative Court considered cases No. 480/6859/20 92134085, 480/6862/20 92134084, 480/6860/20 92134081, 480/6856/20 92134075, 480/6861/20 92159279, 480/6857/20 92159288, 480/6855/20 and decided on the way in which the decision of TEC should be published following on from the results of consideration of appeal: exclusively on the information stand or, in addition to that, on the website of the TEC or local self-government. The court concluded that placement of TEC decision on the official information stand of election commission is an adequate and sufficient means of making it publicly available.

Cases on applying the principle of equality when appointing executive members of PEC

In contrast to cases 300/2791/20, 240/17700/20, where the courts emphasized that the principle of proportional representation is not applicable to the procedure for appointing heads, deputy heads and secretaries of precinct election commissions during local elections, the approach employed by the court in case No. 420/10527/20 deserves special attention. In this case, the court satisfied an appeal concerning the procedure for appointing executive members of PEC that violates the principle of equality of rights and opportunities. The appellate court agreed with the conclusion made by first instance court and considers that the wording used by legislator in Section 6 of Article 204 of the Electoral Code of Ukraine testifies that executive members of PEC should be nominated not only by different nominating entities (different parties / candidates), but also by different categories of nominating entities as specified in Clauses No. 1, 2, 3, 5 of Section 1 of Article 204 of the Electoral Code of Ukraine. Application of the aforementioned approach provides for implementing the basic principles of electoral process provided by Article 21 of the Electoral Code and ensuring the equality of rights and opportunities for all candidates and parties (party organizations) – electoral subjects participating in the electoral process of relevant elections as established by Article 12 of the Electoral Code of Ukraine, which should be supplemented by a prohibition on granting privileges or imposing restrictions on candidates depending on the type of nominating entity. (case No. 420/10527/20)

Cases on drafting and approving the text of ballot papers by way of drawing lots

In case No. 260/3295/2  (information about appeal is not available), the court declared illegal and invalidated the decision No. 10 as of October 5, 2020, which was adopted by Mizhhirya township TEC (Khust rayon of Zakarpattya oblast) in respect of lot drawing procedure to determine the ranking order and placement of the names of party organizations on the ballot paper. The TEC was placed under an obligation to repeat the drawing procedure on the ground that representatives of political party “Servant of the People” (the plaintiff) were not notified of the date, time and place of the meeting of Mizhhirya township TEC, which was held on October 5, 2020, and therefore were deprived of the opportunity to participate in the initial drawing of lots.

Reccommendations

To the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi

• Refrain from any form of direct or indirect campaigning at the final stage of the election process, including when commenting on the progress of the poll initiated by him. 

To the National Police of Ukraine

• Promptly investigate any incident of attacks on the candidates, damage or destruction of their property or campaign materials as well as established vote-buying incidents, and inform the public of the investigation results.

To the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, local state administrations and local self-governments

• Ensure complete and uniform application throughout the Ukrainian regions of the Government Resolution on counter-epidemic measures in the course of the local election.
• Develop direct, transparent and effective communication with the election commissions to promptly assess their needs and respond to their requests covered by the Government Resolution.

To political parties, their local organizations, and candidates

• Refrain from any form of direct or indirect campaigning at the time when this is prohibited by law, including during the poll conducted on the initiative of the President of Ukraine.