Election campaigning in districts #94, 132, 194, 197 and 223 is quite active and competitive. Simultaneously, the scale of voter bribery is threatening, and law-enforcement agencies fail to take any correspondent measures. Such information was reported by Civil Network OPORA during a press-conference, held in 2 days before the repeated election of MPs of Ukraine, to be conducted on December 15.
OPORA's activists have told about the most active candidates in 5 districts. Thus, in single-member district #94 (Vasylkiv city, Obukhiv city) the most active campaigners were: Viktor Romaniuk, nominated by AUU Batkivshchyna; self-nominated candidates Ruslan Badaiev and Yurii Karmazin; Andrii Lozovyi, nominated by Radical Party of Oleh Liashko. Canceled registration of a candidate Viktor Romaniuk in district #94 became a challenge for the AUU Batkivshchyna, and they had to start negotiations with other parties. Local government bodies are actively supporting a self-nominated candidate Ruslan Badaiev.
The scale of voter bribery is threatening, and law-enforcement agencies fail to take any correspondent measures
Only 2 of 11 registered candidates are actively campaigning in SMD #132 (Pervomaisk city): Andrii Kornatskyi (AUU Batkivshchyna) and Mykola Kruhlov (self-nominated, supported by the Party of Regions). Observers detected a lot of incidents of administrative resource abuses in favor of Mykola Kruhlov, Head of Mykolaiv OSA. In particular, state and local social programs were used to promote his interests.
Self-nominated candidates Mykhailo Poplavskyi, Oleksandr Radutskyi, Andrii Svynarenko and a candidate nominated by AUU Batkivshchyna Mykola Bulatetskyi were holding the most active campaigns in the district #194 (Cherkasy city).
The following candidates were actively campaigning in the district #197 (Kaniv city): Leonid Datsenko (AUU Batkivshchyna), Viktor Roienko (CPU), Serhii Tyshchenko (Radical Party of Oleh Liashko), Ihor Sukhobrus (self-nominated), and Mykola Ladan (self-nominated). Leonid Datsenko is the most active of them.
In SMD #223 (Kyiv city), the most active in the district were: Yurii Levchenko (AUU Svoboda), Viktoriia Shylova (Radical Party of Oleh Liashko), and Yurii Hrymchak (Ukrainian Platform Sobor). Self-nominated candidate Viktor Pylypyshyn had also conducted meetings with voters during the last week of campaigning. Some self-nominated candidates were focused on campaigning through social networks (particularly, Tetiana Montian). It is also significant that Yurii Hrymchak, nominated by the Sobor Ukrainian Party, refused to participate in the elections in favor of Yurii Levchenko, nominated by AUU Svoboda.
Despite the voter bribery is a criminal offense, according to the Article 157 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, OPORA's observers have noticed active bribery in districts #194 and 223.
In district #194, the voters were noticed receiving monetary bribes to vote in favor of a self-nominated candidate Mykhailo Poplavskyi. If citizens agreed, they had to write unofficial statement and come to the office at the address given by organizers of the bribery. Voters could receive 200 UAH before the election day, and 150 UAH after the elections. OPORA observers have numerously reported such incidents, there are video proofs and the corresponding appeals to law-enforcement bodies.
Observers of Civil Network OPORA have justified grounds to be sure that monetary bribery scheme is unfolded in district #223, presumably in favor of a self-nominated candidate Viktor Pylypyshyn. Violators use so-called pyramid of "campaigners", with people responsible for blocks of flats with shared entrance, and people responsible for the whole apartment buildings. These persons are campaigning for the candidate and propose people 200 UAH before the Election Day and 200 UAH after the elections during 7-10 days after the voting.
Civil Network OPORA would like to emphasize that the quantity of possible schemes and types of bribery highly exceeds the number of issues, regulated by the effective legislation. In 2012, candidates were actively using gaps in electoral legislation and passivity of law enforcement agencies, and applied unfair and unlawful campaigning methods. Simultaneously, financial incentive to vote undermines the people's confidence in election results.
Civil Network OPORA is conducting a large-scale monitoring campaign in 5 problematic districts, which includes long- and short-term observation. The organization has attracted more than 600 activists to conduct the parallel vote tabulation and qualitative observation during the Election Day. OPORA has systematically informed the public about the course of election campaign, as well as whether subjects of the election process observe the electoral legislation, officials participate in the race, and all the interested parties adhere to generally recognized international standards. The organization is also planning to secure on-line broadcasting from the DECs during receipt of protocols of precinct election commissions. Civic observation is aimed to prevent violations and abuses during the vote count process.