In Chernivtsi oblast, candidates in single-member districts spent nearly 7 million 280 thousand UAH on election campaigning. Such number was received by the CN OPORA after analysis of financial reports on the use of electoral funds. Almost five and a half million UAH were spent on political advertising in mass media. The indicated number are not final, as long as only half of registered candidates submitted financial reports.
According to the Article 49(6) of the Law of Ukraine on the Election of People s Deputies of Ukraine, candidates were obliged to submit final reports on the use of electoral funds to district election commissions until 5 November inclusive. As of 10 November, when OPORA collected copies of reports for the analysis, only 22 of 59 candidates registered in four districts of Chernivtsi oblast submitted their reports.
A record-breaking amount spent on campaigning was noticed in district #204 - almost 5 million UAH. The smallest amount of money spend (almost 447 thousand UAH) was spent in district #201, where candidates were the least active if compared to other districts. Candidates in districts #202 and 203 had almost the same amount of electoral funds (a little more than one million UAH).
Candidate Volodymyr Kulish, nominated by the Petro Poroshenko Block in district #204, had the largest electoral fund of those 22 candidates who had submitted final financial reports – 2,919,850 UAH. The smallest electoral fund belonged to Nataliia Strelchuk, nominated in district #201 by the Ukrainian Republican Party – 2,450 UAH. Candidates in district #204 have spent over 3 million 720 thousand UAH.
Similarly to the beginning and middle of the election campaign, when OPORA analyzed interim financial reports, in the end of the electoral race, candidates were spending most of funds on mass media advertising. Thus, Volodymyr Kulish (district #204) spent more than 2 million 735 thousand UAH on campaigning, Ivan Semeniuk (district #203) - a half of million, and Viacheslav Dobrovolskyi (district #204) – almost 300 thousand UAH.
If we compare campaign expenses of candidates in 2012, candidates nominated by the Party of Regions had officially the largest electoral funds, as well as winners of districts 203 and 204 Hennadii Fedoriak (more than a million UAH), and Artem Semeniuk (940 thousand UAH).
Analysis of expenses made in each district is available here.
Detailed information: Nadiia (Virna) Babynska, phone: +380502104847, virna(at)opora.org.ua
Chernivtsi office of the Civil Network OPORA has opened a hotline at +38 099 010 65 51. You may find important information on website of Chernivtsi office of the Civil Network OPORA http://oporacv.organd on its Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/oporaChernivtsi
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 electoral violations through comprehensive civic action. Starting from September 2014, 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.