In relation to the application of force against Ukrainian citizen V.P. Pylypyshyn, which took place near the CEC premises on 25 September, when he intended to submit documents for registration as MP candidate, we would like to make the following comment.

According to the Article 157 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, obstruction to the free exercise of a citizen's franchise (passive electoral right in this case) followed by the application of force shall be punished by up to three years of restriction of liberty or deprivation of liberty for the same period with no right to hold the certain positions or be involved into the certain activities from one to three years.

According to the Article 2 of the Law of Ukraine on Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine, any limits on participation of Ukrainian citizens in the election process are prohibited besides those provided by the Constitution of Ukraine and this Law. Article 6 of the Law prohibits application of force, threatening, fraud, bribery or any other activities that hinder free formation of voters' opinion and free vote. At the same time, according to the international legal documents, the principle of free election also provides that citizens and other participants of the election process have the right to decide whether to participate or not to participate in the elections in any form that is not prohibited by the law, free from any violence, threats, or any other illegal means of influence.

The use of force to obstruct the free exercise of electoral franchise is not only a gross violation of current legislation – it discredits the electoral process itself to the certain extent, if it has similar incidents. Ukraine's situation inside and outside the country is quite complicated now, and the fact that a part of society don't understand how they influence the adherence to democratic standards of electoral process, causes the certain risks.

There are no excuses for violation of electoral and criminal legislation, disregard of international and domestic standards of the election process, as well as deliberate or undeliberate discrediting of the election process. Any claims that voters, civic associations, or other social groups have to political or electoral subjects should be solved through the court or by any other civilized way (political, ideological discussions etc.). At the same time, law enforcement bodies are obliged to prevent any violence in the election process within the legal framework and in correspondence with principles of political impartiality.

OPORA ascertains that campaigning methods used by citizen V.P. Pylypyshyn during early elections on 15 December 2013 had features of voter bribery. Inactivity of law-enforcement system in 2013 caused aggression of citizens against a potential candidate. Anyway, physical assault, resulted in injury, cannot replace the justice. Moreover, candidates who bribe the voters should be brought to criminal responsibility, which provides imprisonment for similar crimes.

OPORA hopes that incidents of violence will occur rarely, and the election will be held legitimately and freely.

For comment, please contact:
Olha Aivazovska,
Electoral and Parliamentary Programs Coordinator at Civil Network OPORA
phone/fax: (044) 286-26-70
 
Reference:
The Civil Network OPORA - is a non-governmental, non-political and financially independent all-Ukrainian network of activists. We united to enhance public participation in the political process by developing and implementing models of citizen participation in the activities of state and local governments.
Starting from September 2014, Civil Network OPORA conducts a large-scale observation of special parliamentary elections in Ukraine. The organization will attract 213 long-term observers in every region of Ukraine to monitor the campaign from its official start to announcement of the final election results. On the Election Day on May 26, more than 2,000 activists will join them to conduct statistically-based parallel vote tabulation.