On July 7, 2013 midterm elections of Member of Parliament in district #224 (Sevastopol city) were held. During the Election Day, 30 OPORA's observers were present in polling stations of the district and noticed all the aspects of voting and vote count. OPORA's activists were working as journalists of the official printed edition of the organization. Observation results from OPORA are based exclusively on events which took place during the voting day, and do not include any assessment of previous stages of the electoral process.

General description and conclusions

According to OPORA activists, both voting and vote count on polling stations, as well as reception of the election documentation in the DEC, were in correspondence with regulations of the Law of Ukraine on Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine. Subjects of the election process, including political parties and candidates, managed to stay away from the destructive confrontation during the voting day. Low activeness of voters, compared to 2012, became a challenge for the election process. While 50,8% of citizens in the district (77 thousand 724 persons) have received ballot papers in October 2012, this coefficient decreased to 23.89% (36 thousand 434 persons) in July 2013.

Another matter worth to be properly investigated, is illegal registration of voters' participation or non-participation in voting process by members of the election commissions, with the use of documents, which were not established by the CEC for that purpose. OPORA is concerned with activities of the State Emergency Service, which was gathering information about the course of elections in the whole district, despite such activities don't conform to role and status of this institution. Activists have also reported that some voters were improperly informed about candidates during the voting day; and information placards about subjects of the election process were unduly placed.

The course of voting process

The voting process was predominantly uneventful, without acute conflicts between subjects of the election process.

Preparatory (morning) sittings of precinct election commissions were held without substantial violations of the procedure, determined by the Law of Ukraine on Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine. All the 95 election polling stations were opened in time and issued ballot papers without delay. Some polling stations have violated regulations of the legislation regarding the placement of information placards about candidates.

Members of precinct election commissions have secured the proper level of organization and conduct of the voting process. There were also some procedural violations and members of commissions attempting to commit unlawful actions. In particular, some of them tried to issue ballots to citizens which didn't show proper documents (for example, PS #850029 [1]). Besides that, it was reported that a commission member in PS #850017 have put two ballots into ballot box [2]. OPORA's observation showed that violations of the organization and conduct procedures were not widespread. It means that members of the election commissions in district #224 were properly prepared to fulfill their duties.

OPORA's activists were concerned about illegal actions committed by government representatives and election commissions. Firstly, employees of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine were gathering information about voter turnout during course of election in polling stations of the district. The Law precisely determines the role and functions of government bodies in the election process, which should operate in correspondence to it. After verification of the information, it turned out that such activities were systematic. Therefore, they should be investigated in detail.

Secondly, during the voting day, members of precinct election commissions massively recorded information about citizens which haven't yet came to the polling station (including their addresses: number of houses and apartments) in document samples, which were not provided by the CEC. Commission members were trying to conceal abovementioned actions and refused to explain such illegal activity. OPORA applies to law-enforcement bodies and subjects of the election process with a call to study the case in detail on the basis of photo- and video materials, and determine whether there is a threat of using this information by third persons in order to illegally mobilize voters or organize voting instead of them. Such activities may violate the principle of voluntary participation of citizens in the voting process, secured by the Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine on Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine.

Counting votes in polling stations and receiving electoral documentation in the DEC

Precinct election commissions have quickly implemented vote count procedures and compiled the corresponding protocols. OPORA's observers haven't noticed violations of vote count procedures, which could have influenced the election results. District Election Commission has properly organized reception of electoral documentation from precinct election commissions. As exclusion, having started submitting electoral documentation, representatives of DECs didn't manage to queue up, what resulted in jostle and aggressive behavior among commission members. On the stage of receiving documents from precinct election commissions, it was determined that most of them have accurately filled in vote count protocols, without any errors or inaccuracies. However, members of the District Election Commission have violated electoral legislation on the beginning of its meeting by hindering activities of journalists.

Recommendations

To the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine:

  •  To legislatively insure protection against administrative control and spreading information about participation or non-participation of citizens in the voting process by members of election commissions;
  • To strengthen legislative guarantees for activities of journalists and civic organizations during the election process;
  •  To legislatively regulate the presence of MPs of Ukraine in polling stations and on meetings of election commissions.

To the State Emergency Service of Ukraine:

  • To provide official explanation about the purpose and grounds for gathering information about activeness of voters in the district by its employees.
Midterm elections of Member of Parliament in district #224 (Sevastopol city) were appointed by the Central Election Commission on April 18, because the MP of Ukraine Pavlo Liebiediev has terminated his powers when he was appointed on position of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine. There are 155,000 voters in district #224. 95 polling stations were created: 88 regular and 7 special. Journalists of the Tochka OPORY newspaper were observing the voting process in 30 polling stations in Sevastopol, and in the District Election Commission. Mobile groups operatively gathered information about possible violations and informed the media about the course of elections.
 
[1] Commission members in polling station #850029 (Rodnykivske village) intended to hand out ballot to a voter on the basis of passport copy. Similar situation occurred on this polling station, when some citizens were trying to receive ballots on the basis of pension certificate. Observers have appealed to the PEC, and prevented violation of the legislation.
[2] On polling station #850017 (Inkerman city), a journalist of the Tochka OPORY newspaper have personally noticed that a commission member threw two ballot papers in the ballot box. Members of the precinct commission publicly announced that the journalist had mistaken. According to their version, two ballot papers were simultaneously put into the ballot box by citizens who came to participate in the voting together. However, the journalist of the Tochka OPORY newspaper doesn’t confirm this version. Commission member, who, according to the witnessing journalist, has put ballots into ballot box, refused to name candidate, which she represents in precinct election commission.