In the town of Yalta, during the visit to the PEC 011020 at 51 Moscowska Street, OPORA observers found no curtains on voting booths. This violation is contrary to the Constitution of Ukraine, which leaves the possibility to a voter to vote secretly.

Representatives of OPORA approached Head of the PEC to comment on the situation. She justified it by the fact that the question on their form should have been addressed to the Central Election Commission. According to her, they installed the booths they had been given. The next argument given was that such form of booths allowed to vote secretly, no one would see which box was ticked anyway but it would prevent violations, such as removal of ballots. Also, there won't be a situation when a senior person catches on something, stumbles, or faints in a booth, and no one will know.

Then, Head of the DEC called the PEC in the district No.7, and also added that, as she had been told, such booths would be installed around the Crimea, However, OPORA representatives decided to check that fact and selectively stopped in district 7 — at the PEC 010723 in Alushta at the address of 11 Partysanska St, and found that the booths were installed in compliance with all the regulations, including curtains. 

For comment, please contact:
Renat Umerov
Election Programmes Coordinator of the Civil Network OPORA
in the AR Crimea
050 538 28 03

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.