TV program "Before You Vote" is a joint project of the Civil Network OPORA and Hromadske TV, aimed to inform citizens about the course of election campaign and help them to become knowledgeable voters. In this part: fast questioning of Petro Syminenko, Renat Kuzmin and Vasyl Tsushko; 11 principles of electoral legislation and democratic elections; and adventures of Sviatoslav Babilia, the observer.
What is so peculiar about the last week for Presidential candidates? Hosts Yuliia Bankova and Andrii Saichuk will remind how hostile citizens of eastern Ukrainian oblasts were to Serhii Tihipko, Mykhailo Dobkin, and Oleh Tsariov for the support of separatists. However, according to the hosts, these candidates are rare guests in regions, and conduct their campaigns mostly in Kyiv or their native lands. Only 11 of 23 candidates are active. Petro Poroshenko, Yuliia Tymoshenko, Oleh Tiahnybok, Dmytro Yarosh, Anatolii Hrytsenko, Oleh Liashko and Olha Bohomolets are the most active campaigners. It's interesting that most candidates have only started the formation of election headquarters. Besides that, it should be mentioned that rotations in local government bodies continue. However, OPORA's observers haven't reported the the administrative resource was used or other violations of electoral legislation were committed.
In the rubric "Portrait of a candidate" – biographies of Mykhailo Dobkin, Oleksandr Klymenko, Valerii Konovaliuk, and Natalia Korolevska. Guess who of them has millions on bank account, who proposed to refuse from the EIT, and who wants to create the municipal police.
Despite there are talks that people who represent the western Ukraine are striving to gain the power, the map of origin of candidates tells us, that most of them are from the east. You may see this map in the program.
Bankova and Saichuk have questions to Vasyl Tsuchko, Petro Symonenko, and Renat Kuzmin. Having interviewed them, we now know that Vasyl Tsushko sees Yulia Tymoshenko or Arsenii Yatseniuk as a Prime Minister; Renat Kuzmin thinks that Ukraine should conduct a referendum regarding its inclusion into the NATO, and reads "The Art of Court Speech"; and Petro Symonenko states that he doesn't listen to the Hryndzholy (Ukrainian music band), and is inspired by Lenin.
Information about 11 principles of electoral legislation and democratic elections in the rubric "Electoral instruments".
Finally, we present a new rubric about people who have experience of observation. In this part, OPORA's observer Sviatoslav Babilia has told about efficient observation during election of Mukachevo Mayor in 2004.