Participation of dozens of „lifeless“ parties in the formation of election commissions resembles activities of fake companies used to minimise tax liabilities to budgets and convert funds. Unlike undermining of economy by such business entities, massive submissions of lists for the formation of precinct election commissions by representatives of politically inactive parties threaten adequate presentation of results of the expression of will on 28 October. So the conclusion arises that these dummy parties are manipulated by one political force.
As a rule, lists of contenders from the „shadow“ parties were submitted to district election commissions at the last minute. Within an hour and a half to two hours before the statutory period, the number of registered submissions of these lists had increased by around forty practically at every DEC within Khmelnytskyi Oblast. The comparison indicates more than a 90% match in the list of „outsiders“ of the submission. For example, at the DECs of districts No.188, No.189, and No.192, it occurs for 38 parties.
Furthermore, in offices of the commissions, the atmosphere of nervousness had been created, and members of commissions and representatives of the participants of the electoral process were unwilling to be in front of video and photo cameras of observers and journalists.
“Where were you on the 18th after 11pm? Over a dozen of representatives of parties crushed into the office of the commission, pushed me aside from the desk, and threw identical folders with submissions onto it,” started commenting the situation to OPORA representatives Head ofthe DEC No.187 Volodymyr Kliuk(faction of the Our Ukraine–People's Defence Block). “Do you see the last twelve submissions on the list here? These are the dummy parties submitted by the Party of Regions.
This refers to the following parties — Rus Unity, Ukrainian National Assembly, the All-Ukrainian Union Centre, Solidarity of Women of Ukraine, Fair Ukraine, the Brotherhood, the Slavic Party, Viche, the Green, People's Initiative, the Party of Free Democrats, and the Youth Partyof Ukraine. Their registration was very clearly taken care of by the authorised person of the Party of Regions at the DEC Vadym Halushko, whose father, Vasyl Halushko, is a member of this district commission from the Green Planet Ukrainian Party. Many submissions were registered already after midnight, and when a few opposition candidates and parties appealed to court to cancel them they got a refusal. By the way, the agents of the Party of Regions explain, if the representatives of the participants of the electoral process had entered the office of the district commission before midnight, their applications should have been considered. And the period of review of their applications no longer matters.
Ten parties out of the last dozen in the DEC of the district No.187 are also among the last ones that registered their submissions in the commission of the district No.188. Before 11pm, there had only been 23 submissions registered here. The draw started already with 63 submissions. Morevoer, 24 (!) submissions were registered, according to the print out of the registration information, in 1 minute — at 11.59pm. Among them, there is also the submission of the candidate of the Party of Regions Vadym Pliuta — the submission of the Party of Regions itself had been registered ten minutes before him.
In the same way, the lists of contenders of many other parties were filed, including, for example, the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united). “At the moment, our organisation exists only on paper, we don't do any work, and the former members lost contact with us or joined other political forces,” said the nominal Head of Khmelnytskyi Oblast Organisation of the SDPU (u) Olha Dumanska, who stores the seal of the oblast organisation. „So, if someone makes a submission on the behalf of our party, we can talk about the cases of fraud“. And the relationship of the nationalist party — the Brotherhood — of Dmytro Korchynskyi and the regionals (for example, the representative of this party in the DEC of the district No.193, with the centre in Kamyanets-Podilskyi, is a deputy of the Raion Council of the Party of Regions Serhii Krotik) brings a sceptical smile.
“Having an order from the United Opposition, the faction of the Fatherland, and other parties, I have filed seven submissions for contenders to the composition of precinct election commissions in advance. We know that from 10.30pm to midnight, 44 submissions were filed,” said at the press conference the Head of Kamyanets-Podilskyi Town Organisation of the All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland Serhii Akymovych. “As it turned out after the draw, not less than in ten submissions, which lists had already passed the draw, there were fake surnames of people.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkRxz9oRNgo)
Among the outsiders of submissions of candidate lists to the composition of precinct election commissions in other districts, there are also parties mentioned above, as well as not mentioned, with the features, speaking the language of taxmen, of a bogus. According to the agents Serhii Komisaruk and Yuliia Chertovskykh (party UDAR) in the election district No.190with a centre in Shepetivka, members of the district commission had been checking the applications from their political force for two hours. Instead, 47 submissions of candidacies to precinct commissions were accepted altogether in a few minutes. Respectively, all of them had already been registered in the CEC for participation in the draw.
By the way, in the DEC in Shepetivka, a fraud attempt was stopped — after the closure of the meeting of the commission, its Head together with the system administrator was entering submissions of eleven phantom parties into the database. Realising that the law had been violated, and that it had gained publicity, the Head of the Commission Yevhen Nikitenko (the Green Planet Ukrainian Party), in the presence of law enforcement officers, cancelled the registration.
It is clear that such acts are manipulation since dummy parties can register thousands of candidacies for work in precinct commissions, thus leaving the opposition without any representation in them. This was proved by preparation for the draw — when entering data on contenders into the database of the CEC, duplications of many candidates in the lists of submissions were found, and very often the whole lists were duplicated. Within one district, such repetitions are easily detected by the programme and, subject to the decision of the commission, were either cancelled or returned for correction. For example, several contenders to the composition of precinct commissions from the candidate for People's DeputyYosyp Vinskyi(the United Left and Peasants Party, self-nomination), whose surnames were repeated in other submissions, wrote statements to the DEC of the election district No.192in Dunayivtsi. Indeed, Tamara Hryhoryeva, Nataliya Died, Roman Humeniuk, Tamara Bardetska, and Oksana Drabaniuk confirmed their consent to work in the PEC representing Yosyp Vinskyi. Several similar statements came from twins from the list of the party UDAR.
However, in most cases, the problem of duplication was solved by deliberate misspelling of surnames. For example, in the lists, two Tetianas (Ivanivna) with the same address and contact details were discovered. Only surnames differ by one or two letters: of Rus Block — Andruvasevych, and of the Patriotic Party of Ukraine — Andruservych. We make a call, recording the conversation.
“Hi, is it Tetiana Andruservych?”
“No, Andrusevych...”
“And which party are you representing in the precinct election commission?”
“The Party of Regions...”
In the same Rus Block, among the hundreds of duplications detected, appears Liudmyla Redaka. A person with the same mobile number and home address is submitted by the Green Planet — Liudmyla Redyka. Mykhailo Mykhailovych Pop is registered from the candidate Yosyp Visinskyi, and in the submission of the Party of Regions there is a person who was born on the same day and residing at the same address — Mykhaila Mykhailivna Pop. The same way, Khomiak, let's say, triples into Khlomiak and Khlomiachok, Tsvirkun makes it into another list as Tsvikdun, etc.
We call a woman in a landlocked village of Polissia forest steppe, whose surname is on the list of the Ukrainian Sea Party. The „swabbie“ confirmed her intention to work in a precinct election commission.
“Which party has submitted your candidacy?” we ask her.
„I don't know yet,“ she says. „Someone from the Village Council will call me and tell...“
So, if in the database of one district commission the identity of spelling of surnames, names, and patronymic can be recognised, the CEC programme doesn't notice the identity of lists or individuals in different district commissions. So after the draw it is not only that non-existent people, cloned in computers and on paper, have become the members of precinct commissions. Some people have become members of more than one PEC.
Oddly enough, it is allowed. Cloned members of commission who can't be found will be replaced under the quota of participants who have gained the right of representation according to the results of the draw. Real people can refuse a membership in a PEC, which they didn't plan, and their seats, indicated by the lot, will also be filled by a party or a candidate for Deputy. For the main thing for them was to get into the composition of commissions to be able to control the course of voting and vote counting. Moreover, the number of seats in precinct election commissions affects the quotas of managerial positions.
And, by the way, the highest number of seats in PECs in Khmelnyskyi Oblast have obtained the parties commonly known as fake — Solidarity of Women of Ukraine, Civic Position, Liberal Ukraine, Ukrainian National Assembly, the Agrarian Party of Ukraine, the Brotherhood, the State, and the Party of Pensioners of Ukraine. Their quotas are the result of the draw in two and more election districts. They are repeated in information on the results of the draw in most DECs. Certainly, the party in power also manages quotas of other parties with bogus features. And this resource is not easy to balance with the existing quotas of opposition factions, candidates, and parties — the All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland, SPU, UPP, and the Our Ukraine.
Reference:
Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA - is a type of network activity, aimed at impartial assessment of the preparation and conduct of elections, as well as preventing violations through comprehensive civic action. Professional monitoring at all stages of the election process indirectly influences the quality of the campaign. The public opinion, both foreign and domestic is formed through gathering and spreading of information among the target audience.
From a strategic perspective public monitoring of elections focuses upon improving the system and certain procedures.
In 2012, during Parliamentary elections in Ukraine OPORA is carrying out a large-scale campaign of long- and short term observation, organizing a statistical vote-count by the results of voting with the proportional component of the electoral system on a basis of representative selection, will provide 100% coverage of polling stations by observers in separate single-mandate majoritarian districts. OPORA observers will work in all 225 electoral districts, and 3,500 activists will join them on the voting day. Organization will use the latest means of spreading information on observation results, including infographics and interactive maps.