Table of contents

 

  

INTRODUCTION 

Civil Network OPORA conducts citizen observation of local elections in Ukraine, scheduled for 25 October 2015. 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. 144 long-term observers were deployed to all Ukrainian regions on 5 September, and 3000 short-term observers will join them on the election day.

REPORT SUMMARY

The closer election day is, the more active local party cells and candidates become in their campaigning efforts. In October 2015, 27 parties have launched active electoral campaigns in Ukraine. However, most of them are focused only on the certain regions or administrative centers. There are 12 parties which are more active than the other and engage the voters in more than two oblasts of Ukraine.

According to the assessment of OPORA's observers, Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' is the most active in this local election campaign. The next two of top three active parties are AUU Batkivshchyna and Nash Krai. As for the other active parties, we can name Opposition Bloc, Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP, Samopomich Union, Agrarian Party of Ukraine, Revival party, Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, Ridne Misto, and Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement political party. There are 12 parties which are more active than the other and engage the voters in more than two oblasts of Ukraine.

Only 6 political parties organized wide-scale campaigns in more than a third part of oblasts: Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' is actively campaigning in 24 oblasts, AUU Batkivshchyna – in 20 oblasts, Nash Krai party – in 12 oblasts, Opposition Bloc – in 10 oblasts, UKROP party and Samopomich Union are active in 9 oblasts. However, there are so-called local parties, which are formally registered as nationwide, but conduct their activities only on the level of territorial communities - in the certain cities of regions.

As for major violations, each candidate from parties-electoral subjects applied illegal campaigning, misuse of administrative resources, and indirect voter bribery.

Violation of election campaigning rules is the most widespread abuse committed by parties and some candidates for city mayors. OPORA's observers have noticed over 60 such incidents in all Ukrainian oblasts. We mean, for the most part, dissemination of campaign materials without an imprint (information about the printing house, client, number of printed copies, and individuals responsible for the publication). Besides that, we mean placement of campaign materials and political advertising within the restricted areas. Thus, the following parties were violating campaigning rules: Ridne Misto, UKROP, Nash Krai, Syla Liudei, AUU Batkivshchyna, PPB 'Solidarity', Opposition Bloc, Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, Narodnyi Kontrol (People's Oversight) Civic Movement, Serhii Kaplin's Party of Simple People, AUU Svoboda, Samopomich Union, Revival party, and Volia party. It should be mentioned that despite parties and candidates committed these violations in different regions, they were neither systematical, nor regular.

Violations related to misuse of powers or budget resources for the benefit of the certain candidates were occasional. However, a threat of administrative resource misuse is still topical. OPORA has already mentioned in its previous publications that officials of local state administrations participating in the election process as candidates may be used to bring illegal electoral benefits for the certain parties. However, the administrative resources (budget, media, and personnel) are the most actively used at this stage of election process by officials and executives of local self-government bodies, communal enterprises, educational and social institutions. OPORA's observers often recorded misuse of office for campaign purposes and campaign announcements in municipal mass media and official publications of local self-government bodies. We have noticed such incidents in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Volyn, Donetsk, Poltava, Mykolaiv, Khmelnytsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv, and Cherkasy oblasts. Administrative resources were misused for the benefit of different candidates and parties that are electoral subjects – Nash Krai party, PPB 'Solidarity', UKROP party, AUU Batkivshchyna, Agrarian Party of Ukraine, and Revival party.

As long as the electoral system has changed and it's no longer based on majority rule, the candidates have fewer opportunities to give the voters material incentives. However, the candidates still tend to use indirect voter bribery means (i.e. charity) because they engage voters in small territorial districts. The voters are also often provided with free or discounted goods and services. Although such practices are not systematical, they were noticed in all Ukrainian oblasts. The certainty of punishment for even minor violations (for both candidates and votes) could efficiently prevent similar abuses.

Regulations of the new Law of Ukraine on Local Elections were unequally applied by election commissions and territorial communities and, as a result, many candidates received rejection of registration as well as numerous legal and political confrontations occurred. Thus, local party cells and candidates successfully challenged candidate registration refusals in courts to restore their electoral rights.

According to OPORA's assessment, courts usually chose rather to satisfy claims of potential candidates and secure their right to seek election than to support resolutions of territorial election commissions. It is a positive distinction between 2015 local elections and previous local elections held in 2010. However, the voters still don't know a final list of candidates in the certain territorial communities and regions. Such situation is a result of the fact that election controversies over candidate registration or registration refusals are still being considered by courts on the level of territorial election commissions and the CEC. It should be mentioned that not only the registration period established by the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections has finished, but also the deadline for ballot printing is overdue.

Registration of candidates is delayed mostly because members of territorial election commissions and other electoral subjects are not competent enough, election commissions tend to apply redundant formalities in consideration of registration documents, and election commission members are often too much politically biased.

In some cases, TECs' refusals to register candidates could be classified as obstruction to stand as a candidate for election, i.e. creation of artificial obstacles for registration of potential candidates. As a result, such uncompleted candidate registration process questions the stability of election process in the corresponding oblasts, cities, and raions. In particular, there are no final candidate lists for election of Cherkasy City Mayor, Cherkasy City Council, and Kharkiv Oblast Council. Electoral controversies concerning territorial election commissions' refusals to register candidates submitted by local cell of the Party of Free Democrats (Cherkasy city), and regional cell of the Opposition Bloc party (Kharkiv obl.) are still open. Elections of Kherson City Mayor and to Kherson City Council remain potentially problematic, as long as the inclusion of Volodymyr Saldo (Nash Krai) in the election ballot was agreed only on 15 October.

At the same time, a conflict which emerged when Krasnoarmiisk City Election Commission in Donetsk oblast refused to cancel registration of candidates nominated by local party cell of the Opposition Bloc (upon an appeal of party representative) hazarded the following stages of electoral process because 7 of 18 members of the TEC were withdrawn. Adherence to election procedures in Mariupol city and raion-in-city election commissions remains unstable and affects organization of the election process in this city.

Taking into consideration the problems related to functioning of the certain election commissions, the CEC took decisions on issues under jurisdiction of TECs. For example, the CEC has registered candidates for Sloviansk City Mayor, nominated by local cell of the Opposition Bloc, and candidate of the Nash Krai party in elections of Kherson City Mayor and to Kherson City Council. The CEC has also canceled resolutions on candidate registration passed by Sloviansk City Election Commission, Cherkasy City Election Commission, Kharkiv Oblast Election Commission, Kherson City Election Commission, Ivankiv Raion Election Commission in Kyiv Oblast, and Krasnoarmiisk City Election Commission. Besides that, the CEC has early terminated the office of Sloviansk City Election Commission, Kherson City Election Commission, Mariupol City Election Commission in Donetsk Oblast, Novyi Rozdil City Election Commission in Lviv Oblast, and some other commissions due to election law violations.

OPORA is convinced that direct involvement of the CEC to solution of issues resulting from TEC inaction or inability to efficiently administer election procedures was necessary and justified. However, such cases when the CEC directly resolves electoral disputes will motivate electoral subjects not to challenge the violations committed by election commissions in court. For example, regional cell of the Opposition Bloc in Kharkiv oblast submitted an application to the CEC asking to protect their electoral rights instead of appealing against TEC's decision in court. Thus, this political party didn't use the opportunity to challenge the decision in court to restore its rights. Besides that, active participation of the CEC in solution of local election conflicts may result in political manipulations around centralized influence on the election campaign.

CAMPAIGNING EFFORTS OF POLITICAL PARTIES

1 October 2015 was a deadline for official registration of candidates, when the corresponding territorial election commissions were supposed to pass a decision to register or refuse to register candidates. All the parties which have nominated candidates to local councils officially started campaigning on this date. We would like to remind that 142 political parties submitted documents to register for local elections, but only 132 of them were registered.

OPORA has analyzed the campaign efforts of all parties that are electoral subjects, and determined which of them organized the most wide-scale (how many regions involved) and intensive (how intensive campaigning efforts are) election campaigns.

Thus, according to a comprehensive monitoring campaign conducted by OPORA, there are 12 parties which are more active than the other and engage the voters in more than two oblasts of Ukraine. Petro Poroshenko Bloc is the most active party in local election campaign. The next two of top three active parties are AUU Batkivshchyna and Nash Krai. As for the other active parties, we can name Opposition Bloc, Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP, Samopomich Union, Agrarian Party of Ukraine, Revival party, Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, Ridne Misto, and Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement political party. All these parties actively use various campaigning forms – outdoor, media, street and direct engagement. Although 27 parties are campaigning quite actively, most of them focus only in the certain regions or administrative centers (coties of oblast or raion significance).

Thus, parties Yedynyi Tsentr and KMKS Party of Hungarians of Ukraine are active only in Zakarpattia oblast. Civic Position party is the most active in Lviv city, New Faces party – in Kyiv oblast, For Real Deeds party – in Khmelnytsk oblast, Party of Volunteers of Ukraine – in Kharkiv oblast, VOLIA party – in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, AUTOMAIDAN party – in Chernivtsi oblast, Party of Free Democrats and AUU Cherkashchany – in Cherkasy oblast.

Table. Rating of top active parties in local elections in Ukraine (as of 14 October 2015)

OPORA has analyzed which parties conduct nationwide election campaigns in more than a third part of Ukrainian oblasts. Thus, there are 6 such parties: “Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' is actively campaigning in 24 oblasts, AUU Batkivshchyna – in 20 oblasts, Nash Krai party – in 12 oblasts, Opposition Bloc – in 10 oblasts, UKROP party and Samopomich Union are active in 9 oblasts.

Besides that, OPORA's observers have identified parties which have the highest quantity of campaign materials, public events, and appear the most often in the media (as of the middle of October). In fact, all these parties have started campaigning long before they were officially registered and became electoral subjects. Thus, they all received non-competitive advantages over other electoral contestants.

Table. Leaders in election campaign efforts per oblasts (as of 14 October 2015).

 

ACTIVITIES OF ELECTION COMMISSIONS

ACTIVITIES OF THE CEC

The CEC has passed 66 decisions during the reporting period (01-15.10.2015), most of which concerned organization and conduct of elections on 25 October 2015.

As long as there were the certain problems with registration of candidates by TECs, incidents when TECs violated the Law on Local Elections, failed to comply with court decisions or take the necessary action, the CEC had to react in accordance with the procedure established by the election law and the Law of Ukraine on the Central Election Commission.

Thus, in October 2015, the CEC took a number of decisions on early termination of office of all members of TEC:

• On early dissolution of Sloviansk City Election Commission[1] (due to inaction of the TEC concerning registration of a candidate for city mayor nominated by the local cell of Opposition Bloc);
• On early dissolution of Kherson City Election Commission (because the TEC refused to register a candidate of the Nash Krai party's local cell and failed to restore the violated the rights of electoral subjects in accordance with court ruling after the abovementioned decision was considered illegal and repealed by a court);
• On early dissolution of Mariupol City Election Commission in Donetsk oblast (because the TEC passed a decision on substitution of managing officials at Illichivskyi, Prymorskyi, Zhovtnevyi, Ordzhonikidzevskyi District Election Commissions in Mariupol despite there were no legal basis for these substitutions);
• On early dissolution of Novyi Rozdil City Election Commission in Lviv oblast (because the TEC refused to register candidates of the Real Deeds party's local cell and failed to restore the violated the rights of electoral subjects in accordance with court ruling after the abovementioned decision was considered illegal and repealed by a court);
• On early dissolution of Vito-Poshtova Village Election Commission in Kyiv-Sviatoshyno raion of Kyiv oblast (because TEC passed a decision on refusal to register village head candidate, which was considered groundless and unsubstantiated by the court);
• On early dissolution of Cherkasy City Election Commission (because the TEC systematically violated the Constitution of Ukraine and laws of Ukraine when it took decisions on refusal to register and to cancel registration of candidates nominated by local cell of the Party of Free Democrats).

Besides that, the CEC has canceled a number of TEC resolutions concerning registration of candidates for local elections (resolution of Sloviansk City Election Commission on rejection of candidates for city mayor from the Opposition Bloc party; resolution of Cherkasy City Election Commission on rejection of candidates nominated by local cell of the Party of Free Democrats; resolution of Kharkiv Oblast Election Commission on rejection of candidates nominated by regional cell of the Opposition Bloc party; resolution of Ivankiv Raion Election Commission in Kyiv oblast on rejection of candidates to local councils nominated by AUU Batkivshchyna; resolution of Krasnoarmiisk City Election Commission on rejection of the application concerning withdrawal of candidates submitted by local cell of the Opposition Bloc).

It should be mentioned that the CEC terminated the office of 7 members of Krasnoarmiisk City Election Commission in Donetsk oblast on 10/14/2015 on the basis of TEC's petition with attached documents proving that these commission members systematically failed to fulfill their duties[2].

Due to the inaction of TEC or poor enforcement of court decisions concerning registration of candidates, the CEC passed decision on registration of candidate for Sloviansk city mayor, nominated by local cell of the Opposition Bloc party, and candidate to Kherson City Council From the Nash Krai party (this very candidate was registered by decision of the CEC as number one candidate to Kherson City Council in electoral list of Nash Krai party's local cell).

Having considered a complaint concerning the inaction of Myrne Settlement Election Commission in Melitopol raion of Zaporizhia oblast, the CEC obliged this TEC to consider registration of a candidate. Having considered a petition from regional cell of the Opposition Bloc party concerning TEC's refusal to register its candidates to Kharkiv Oblast Council, the CEC canceled the corresponding resolution of Kharkiv Oblast Election Commission. Based on another petition of this party, the CEC canceled resolution of Enerhodar City Election Commission revoking registration of its candidates to city council.

Besides that, the CEC has approved a number of explanations on application of the certain regulations of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections:

1. Explanation
2.  For example, if a voter sends an application for organization of voting at the place of stay, verification of voter's temporary inability to move unaided should be made through a personal visit to voter's residence address (place of stay) indicated in the application and/or inquiry of such voter at an indicated phone number[4].
3. Explanation on the registration procedure for elected members of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, obalst, raion, city, raion in city, village, and settlement councils, as well as of village, settlement, city heads and village and settlement headmen (Resolution #381 of 10/2/2015).
4. In particular, the explanation specified that it's prohibited to print ballots before courts finish consideration of candidates registration disputes, court decisions on such cases take legal effect and become implemented, and territorial election commissions execute decisions of the Central Election Commission, except for cases when further delay of ballot printing would violate time constraints for their production established by Article 75 (1) of the Law[6].
5. Monetary pledge for election list of a local party cell was paid by a physical person but not from account of a party cell. The courts, however, usually didn't consider such payments as election law violations.
6. Paperwork inaccuracies (documents submitted to TECs for candidate registration). The mistakes/inaccuracies in the documents were often considered by TECs as a failure to submit the needed documents.
7. Violation of candidate nomination procedure (concerning simultaneous nomination of candidates in local elections and/or simultaneous nomination in different local elections from different parties; simultaneous nomination from a local party cell and as a self-nominated candidate; local party cells nominating candidates who are affiliated with the other party; non-observance of meeting (conference) requirements dedicated to nomination of candidates by local party cells).

It was also explained that official announcement of election outcomes by a territorial election commission shall be considered as grounds for dismissal of an elected person from a position incompatible with the mandate of village, settlement, city head, as well as headman of village or settlement, or invalidation of any other representative mandate of a person elected as member of a village, settlement, city head or headman of village/settlement[5]. Explanation on application of the certain regulations of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections concerning ballot paper production in Autonomous Republic of Crimea, obalst, raion, city, raion in city, village, and settlement councils, as well as of village, settlement, city heads and village and settlement headmen (Resolution #391 of 07/10/2015).

5)On making amendments to Resolution of the Central Election Commission #356 of 21 September 2015 concerning Explanation on determination of results in election to the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and raion in city councils in multi-mandate election districts (Resolution #409 of 10/9/2015)

In particular, the CEC explained that results of parties and candidates in percentage indicated in tabulation protocols at territorial election districts within a multi-mandate electoral district in elections to Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, oblast, raion, city, raion-in-city, shall have decimal fractions rounded to the nearest ten thousandth (for example: 5.2957)[7] .

Besides that, the CEC was responsible for registration of official observers from foreign countries and international organizations.

ACTIVITIES OF TERRITORIAL ELECTION COMMISSIONS IN LOCAL ELECTIONS

Despite the deadline for candidate registration was over (till 01 October inclusive), lawsuits and other legal actions related to TEC decisions concerning refusal to register candidates have been continuing in many territorial communities. Regulations of the new Law of Ukraine on Local Elections were unequally applied in different regions and territorial communities and, as a result, many candidates received rejection of registration from TECs.

Fortunately, such candidate registration issues were successfully resolved through court appeals, which proved to be a reliable mechanism for restoring electoral rights of candidates and local cells of political parties.

At the same time, court appeals and even direct involvement of the CEC didn't help the best way with electoral disputes and, therefore, TECs have significantly delayed registration of candidates and production of ballot papers. Such unresolved issues related to registration of candidates causing acute conflicts hazard stability of the election process as a whole and its legitimacy in the eye of voters. To begin with, we mean elections to Cherkasy City Council and of Cherkasy city mayor, elections to Kharkiv Oblast Council, elections to Kherson City Council and of Kherson city mayor.

According to OPORA's calculations, TECs usually based their refusals to register candidates on the following facts:

Thus, court decisions on the corresponding cases contain reference to subparagraph 4.1.  of Resolution #22 on Approval of the Instruction on Non-Cash Payments in Ukraine in the National Currency passed by the National Bank of Ukraine on 21.01.2004, saying that non-cash payments are money transfers from account of a payer to account of a payee, as well as bank transfers made on behalf of enterprises and physical persons in the form of cash payments deposited into recipient's bank account.

For example, such legal position was taken by Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court in a case brought by Dnipropetrovsk city cell of the Democratic Alliance party against Dnipropetrovsk City Election Commission in Dnipropetrovsk oblast[8], as well as Kirovohrad District Administrative Court in a case concerning TEC's refusal to register candidates to oblast council nominated by AUU Svoboda, and other courts[9]. The same position was also taken by the Central Election Commission which considered petition from regional cell of the Opposition Bloc party in Kharkiv oblast concerning rejection of candidates to oblast council in multi-mandate election district by a TEC.

For example, Novomoskovsk City Election Commission in Dnipropetrovsk oblast refused to register some candidates in multi-mandate election district, included in election list of the Nash Krai party's local cell, because personal written consents to run were not attached. The candidate, however, had only made an error in the full name of the corresponding local party cell. Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court ruled that the corresponding resolution of Novomoskovsk City Election Commission was unlawful, repealed it, and obliged the TEC give the candidate a chance to correct the error in his written consent to run[10].

At the same time, Kharkiv District Administrative Court repealed a resolution of Lozova Raion Election Commission on refusal to register candidates to raion council, based on allegedly absent properly notarized copy of local party cell's registration certificate[11]. Besides that, Oleksandriia City Election Commission in Kirovohrad oblast refused to register 29 candidates in multi-mandate election district nominated by local cell of the Syla Liudei party because of errors in their autobiographies (usually the absence of information about public activities). Another example is local cell of the People's Movement of Ukraine, which has successfully challenged TEC's decision in court when it refused to register its candidates to Bohorodchany Raion Council in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast. In this case, the TEC based its refusal on a non-conformity between signatures in submitted documents.

For example, electoral dispute related to registration of a self-nominated candidate for Tsiuriupynsk city mayor (Kherson oblast) V. Plotnikov, who was also nominated to a raion council by the Revival party, and other disputes. At the same time, Kirovohrad Oblast Election Commission canceled registration of a candidate from electoral list of local cell of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' because he was nominated to oblast council by other political parties, namely Kirovohrad local cell of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko and regional cell of the Opposition Bloc. However, district administrative court has canceled the corresponding resolution of Kirovohrad Oblast Election Commission[12].

TECs often refused to register candidates, nominated by local party cells, on the basis of allegedly violated procedure of informing the commission about the time and place of holding a meeting (conference) dedicated to nomination of candidates. As for the most resonant incidents, we have to mention a decision of[13] Enerhodar City Election Commission in Zaporizhia oblast to cancel registration of city mayor candidate and candidates to city council nominated by territorial cell of the Opposition Bloc. The TEC grounded its decision on a complaint from local cell of Strong Ukraine party of Serhii Tihipko, informing that the Opposition Bloc violated the nomination procedure, in particular failed to timely notify the TEC about the date, time and place of holding meeting or conference for nomination of candidates. However, the Central Election Commission has repealed this decision of Enerhodar City Election Commission with its Resolution #404 of 8 October 2015, and emphasized that it should strictly follow election law requirements and secure realization of citizen voting rights in the preparation and conduct of elections.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF RESONANT TEC DECISIONS ON REGISTRATION OR REFUSAL TO REGISTER CANDIDATES IN LOCAL ELECTIONS

The most resonant rejections of candidates in local elections scheduled for 25 October 2015 are:

• decision of Kharkiv Oblast Election Commission on refusal to register candidates to oblast council nominated by regional cell of the Opposition Bloc party;
• decision of Cherkasy City Election Commission on registration of candidates to city council from the Party of Free Democrats (with the following cancelation of mayoral candidate from this very party);
• inaction of Sloviansk City Election Commission concerning registration or refusal to register candidate for city mayor nominated by local cell of the Opposition Bloc party;
• decision of Kherson City Election Commission concerning refusal to register candidate for city mayor nominated by local cell of the Nash Krai party;
• decision of Novyi Rozdil City Election Commission in Lviv oblast concerning refusal to register candidates to city council nominated by local cell of the Real Deeds party;
• decision of Dnipropetrovsk City Election Commission concerning refusal to register candidates to city council nominated by local cells of parties Democratic Alliance, Revival, and Socialists;
  • To ensure effective work of local party cells and candidate representatives as part of electoral commissions, especially at precinct commission level, considering that those are formed at their minimal composition.
  • To actively use opportunities of legal contestation of decisions and actions of electoral commissions as well as violations of election legislation without excessive applications to Central Election Commission

Taking into consideration complications with registration of Kharkiv oblast cell of the Opposition Bloc in the territorial department of justice[14], decision of Kharkiv Oblast Election Commission (of 10/1/2015) on refusal to register candidates to oblast council included in electoral list of party's regional cell became also quite resonant.

Kharkiv Oblast Election Commission based its decision (10/1/2015) to reject candidates to oblast council included to election list of the Opposition Bloc party's regional cell on the following facts:

1) registration documents of candidates to oblast council from electoral list of the Opposition Bloc party's regional cell in Kharkiv oblast were received by the TEC on 1 October 2015 at 1:40 p.m., what is beyond the deadline established by the law, according to the TEC (until 30 September inclusive); 2) data on registered party cells and branches including information about their leaders and location as of 25 September 2015, provided by a territorial department of justice, didn't contain information about regional cell of the Opposition Bloc party in Kharkiv oblast[15]; 3) information about regional cell of the Opposition Bloc party in Kharkiv oblast was absent in the Unified Register of Citizen Associations and Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Private Entrepreneurs as of 12 a.m. on 30 September 2015 (TEC based its position on a letter from Main Territorial Department of Justice in Kharkiv Oblast); 4) regional cell of the Opposition Bloc party in Kharkiv oblast failed to submit a decision of party's central administrative body concerning participation of its local organizations in the corresponding election; 5) a receipt certifying that a monetary pledge has been paid (monetary pledge was paid by a natural person) is not a document certifying that local party cell submitted a monetary pledge through a non-cash transfer what is, according to the TEC, is violation of nomination procedure and, therefore, is a basis to reject candidate registration; 6) violation of law requirements concerning written notification of the TEC about place, date, and time of a meeting (conference) dedicated to nomination of candidates, which must be submitted not later than a day before such meeting.

According to Article 94 (6-7) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, decisions, actions or inaction of a territorial election commission (or its member) establishing results of the corresponding local elections may be challenged in court. Besides that, it's also possible to submit a complaint on inaction of a territorial election commission establishing results of the corresponding local elections to the Central Election Commission. Thus, regional cell of the Opposition Bloc party in Kharkiv oblast could challenge the refusal to register candidates to oblast council received from Kharkiv Oblast Election Commission. At the same time, regional cell of the party chose another way to protect its interests by sending a petition (petition but not a complaint) to assist in realization of its voting rights (as of 10/5/2015). The Opposition Bloc asked in its petition to take measures to assist in realization of its voting rights, and indicated that such decision of Kharkiv Oblast Election Commission is against the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections.

The Central Election Commission considered the petition from regional cell of the Opposition Bloc and passed the corresponding decision based on Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine on the Central Election Commission (Commission's right to consider an issue on its own initiative its it gets information about violation of election law).

According to the results of consideration on 10/7/2015, the CEC canceled resolution of Kharkiv Oblast Election Commission on refusal to register candidates to oblast council from this party, and obliged the TEC to solve the issue with registration of candidates until 10/8/2015. Besides that, the CEC has ascertained that it's not a violation when natural persons pay monetary pledge on behalf of regional cell of the Opposition Bloc[16]. It should be mentioned that such position of the CEC was repeatedly confirmed by court decisions on the same matter[17].

CEC also noted[18] that submission and the acceptance of documents of candidates by TECs are not identical definitions, and these two events can take place in different period of time (the TEC certificate of acceptance of documents from regional organization "Opposition bloc" states that time of acceptance of documents is: 01:40 as of the 1st of October 2015, while it was established by a representative of the party that the documents were applied to TEC at 23:40 on the 30th of September 2015). It was also emphasized that the absence the members of territorial election commission during the meeting (conference) of the local party organization on the nomination of candidates is not a reason to call into question the fact of meeting arrange and not an evidence of breach of the nomination of candidates. It was established that the regional organization of the corresponding political party informed TEC twice in writing of the date, time and place of the relevant meetings. CEC also did not agree with the other grounds for refusal of registration of candidates for deputies of the regional council, nominated by regional organization of the party "Opposition bloc" that were used by Kharkiv Regional Election Commission.

Following an appropriate decision of CEC Kharkiv Regional Election Commission on 08.10.2015 considered the issue of registration of candidates for deputies of the Kharkiv regional council in the multi-mandate constituency who were included in the electoral list of regional organization of political party "Opposition bloc" in the Kharkiv region, but repeatedly refused to register them. In response to such a decision of DEC, CEC established a fact of major violations of the law by the Kharkov regional election commission and terminated the powers of all its members[19]. In this case newly formed TEC was required on or before October 13, 2015 to solve the issue of registration of candidates for deputies of the Kharkiv regional council in the multi-mandate constituency who were included in the electoral list of the regional organization of the party "Opposition bloc". The new Kharkov regional election commission was formed on 10.12.2015, but on 10.13.2015 commission refused to register candidates from regional party "Opposition bloc" for the second time. Instead, on October, 14 the CEC canceled the decision of the Kharkiv Regional Election Commission on refusal of the registration of candidates for deputies to the regional council from the regional organization of the party "Opposition bloc" as of 12.10.2015 and obliged the deputy chairman and the secretary of the TEC to provide on or before 13:00 on 10.15.2015 a delivery of original documents to the CEC submitted to the commission by a regional organization of this party[20].

On 02.10.2015 the Central Election Commission decided ahead of schedule to terminate the power of all members of Sloviansk city election commission in connection with the rejection of this commission to make decision on registration or refusal on registration a candidate Volodymyr Lyakhov for the position of mayor who was nominated by the territorial organization of political party "Opposition bloc ". At the same time, the CEC obliged the newly created TEC to solve the issue of registration of Volodymyr Lyakhov on or before the 6th of October 2015[21]. At the same time, the territorial organization of the party "Opposition bloc" appealed against inactivity of Sloviansk city election commission regarding the registration of its candidate nominated for the post of mayor. In the court action the party "Opposition bloc" demanded to declare unlawful inaction of Sloviansk city election commission and required to register its candidate for the position of mayor. Instead, Donetsk District Administrative Court met the claim partially recognizing inactivity of TEC, but not obliged the Election Commission to register the candidate.[22]

The new composition of the Sloviansk TEC was formed on 05.10.2015, but the CEC was forced to cancel the decision of the TEC twice in connection with the refusal to register the candidate nominated by the territorial organization of the party Oposition Bloc. As it was stated in resolution №397[23] of and #401[24] CEC, Sloviansk city election commission did not indicate the provisions of Article 46 of the Law of Ukraine "On Local Elections" (on the grounds for refusal to register a candidate) by means of which the Commission guided in making this decision. Instead, on 09.10.2015 CEC, examined the documents for registration for the position of Sloviansk mayor by a candidate Lyakhov Volodymyr, decided independently to register him and obliged the Sloviansk city election commission to amend its decision regarding the approval of the text of voting paper for the election of the mayor.

The case with a candidate for the position of Sloviansk mayor was not the only one when CEC registered candidates for local elections with its own decisions. On 14.10.2015 CEC registered V. Saldo as a candidate for the position of Kherson mayor[25] and as the first candidate in the electoral list nominated for the election to Kherson City Council by local party "Nash Krai".[26]

Before making the decision to register V. Saldo as a candidate for elections for the position of mayor and city council CEC made a decision to terminate power of Kherson city election commission ahead of schedule with the obligation of the newly formed TEC to fulfill court decisions to register Mr. Saldo as a candidate, and denounced a number of resolutions on refusal of registration of the relevant candidate made by the new composition of the TEC. Kherson city election commission, while refusing to register Volodymyr Saldo as a candidate, relied on information that this person was probably a member of the Party of Regions, and in these conditions the nomination was held by the local organization of political party "Nash Krai". It’s necessary to pay attention to the fact that the resolution of Kherson city election commission as of 01.10.2015 to refuse to register Mr. V. Saldo as a candidate for the position of mayor does not indicate a clear reference to the grounds of such a decision, but only to general reference to Article 46 of the Law Ukraine "On local elections," which lists a number of grounds for refusal of registration of candidates.

At the same time, on 03.10.2015 Kherson Regional Administrative Court annulled a resolution of Kherson city election commission №26-7 as of 01.10.2015 on the refusal to register Volodymyr Saldo as a candidate for the position of Kherson mayor from the Kherson city party organization of the political party "Nash Krai ", and with the other decision annulled a similar decision of DEC regarding refusal of registration of this person as a candidate for deputy of Kherson City Council. Among other things, the District Administrative Court indicated that the decision of Kherson city election commission does not contain any grounds for refusal of registration of Mr. Saldo as a candidate for mayor of Kherson.[27] Similar court decision regarding the refusal to register Mr. Saldo as a candidate for deputy put on the electoral list of the local organization "Nash Krai", also indicates the lack of any specific legal grounds which justify the decision of TEC. At the same time Kherson Regional Administrative Court obliged the DEC to reconsider the application of local party "Nash Krai" on the registration of candidates once again and made one of the decisions on this subject provided by the law (registration or refusal of registration). Instead, the decision of Odessa Appeal administrative court as of 06.10.2015 DEC was obliged to reconsider the application of local party "Nash Krai" and to make a decision on the registration of V. Saldo as a candidate for the position of Kherson mayor and as a candidate to Kherson City Council.

Thus, execution of the decision of Odessa Appeal Administrative Court by Kherson city election commission did not provide any alternative solutions other than a registration of the appropriate candidate. Instead TEC made a decision on refusal of registration of Mr. Saldo as a candidate repeatedly and on approval pf the text of voting paper without listing of the relevant candidate. Repeated refusals of DEC caused new trials, and the issue was solved only by the results of making a decision by CEC to register a candidate for the corresponding local elections. In addition, the CEC obliged Kherson Election Commission on or before the 15th of October to amend its decisions concerning the approval of the text of voting papers.[28] Herewith, earlier DEC already made decisions on approval of the text of the voting paper, which did not include Mr. Saldo as a candidate. On October, 15 TEC during its meeting amended the decision to approve the text of voting paper for the election of deputies to the City Council of Kherson and Kherson Mayor regarding Mr. Saldo.

The legal impasse has been created in the registration of candidates for deputies of Cherkasy City Council and candidate for the position of mayor, nominated by the local organization of Party of Free Democrats. Problems with the registration of candidates from the Party of Free Democrats in Cherkassy were recorded on the 27th of September, when Cherkasy city election commission refused to register 12 candidates from the list of this party, referring to the Article 38 (7) of the Law of Ukraine "On Local Elections" - the lack of required information in his autobiography: one potential candidate did not filled out his citizenship, the other three – their party membership, 11 of them - social work.

By the decision of the Cherkasy Regional Administrative Court and the Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal the resolution of TEC was recognized as illegal one and the relevant Commission was obliged to reconsider this issue once again and make one of the decisions provided by the law. In addition, the local organization of party "Opposition bloc" disputed the decision of DEC on refusal to register 12 candidates without any result, demanding to cancel the registration of all electoral list of the Party of Free Democrats due to some deficiencies in the autobiographies of some individuals.[29]

Due to inactivity of Cherkasy city election commission regarding implementation of court decisions, the CEC adopted a decision obliging the TEC to resolve the issue of registration of candidates of the Party of Free Democrats and canceled the resolution of TEC on this matter. In particular, Resolution №400 as of October 12, 2015, adopted by the CEC obliges the TEC to resolve the issue of registration of twelve candidates for deputies of the city council nominated by the Party of Free Democrats no later than October 13, 2015.

Instead, on October 13, 2015, Cherkasy city election commission canceled registration of the whole list of candidates nominated by the Party of Free Democrats at the City Council elections and also canceled registration of candidate for mayor Serhiy Odaryn nominated by this political force due to the fact that a copy of the decision on participation of All-Ukrainian Party of Free Democrats in the elections was not certified by the party leader. In other words, the TEC used the newly discovered evidence as grounds for cancellation of registration of the whole list of candidates of the Party of Free Democrats and its candidate for mayor.

As is well-known, earlier the CEC received a copy of the decision of the governing body of the party on the participation of the All-Ukrainian “Party of Free Democrats” in the elections and included it in the list of parties which adopted a decision on participation of its local organizations in local elections. In addition, the CEC conducted a repeat drawing of lots to determine the numerical order of political parties in the ballot papers for voting in multi-mandate constituency and approved the text of the ballot paper “for voting in multi-mandate constituency at the election of Cherkasy mayor” without the inclusion of Cherkasy city local organization of the Party of Free Democrats in the list of parties that take part in local elections. In response to such actions of TEC, in its decision the CEC terminated the powers of the whole composition of Cherkasy city election commission and now should form a new composition of this TEC.

Dnipropetrovsk city election commission refused to register several candidates nominated by local organizations of political parties in multi-mandate constituency (the “Democratic Alliance” party, “Vidrodzhennya”, “Socialists”, and some others) as well as candidates for mayor of Dnipropetrovsk nominated by political parties “Vidrodzhennya” and “Socialists”. These refusals received a lawsuit perspective, thus enabling the local organizations of political parties to register their candidates for the above-mentioned local elections. Furthermore, the local organizations of these political parties have won their lawsuits in the first instance and the court of appeal.

For example, the Dnepropetrovsk District Administrative Court declared illegal and invalidated the resolution № 85 of Dnipropetrovsk city election commission as of October 01, 2015, on denial of registration of candidates for deputies of City Council in the multi-mandate constituency nominated by the Dnepropetrovsk city organization of the “Democratic Alliance” party.

The reason for refusal of registration of candidates for deputies nominated by the Dnepropetrovsk city organization of the “Democratic Alliance” party was the fact that the monetary deposit was not made by the party’s local organization that nominated candidates for deputies, nor was it made by higher-level structure of political party, as provided by Article 44 of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, but it was made by a private individual instead^[30]. District Administrative Court has not taken into account the statement of TEC on the fact that monetary deposit should have been transferred in a cashless form directly by the local organization of political party that nominated candidates for deputies or higher-level structure of political party, considering that the head of the city organization of political party made a monetary deposit in a cashless form, as evidenced by the receipt of the bank. According to the court, the head of the city organization of political party had the right to represent the interests of the city organization of political party in all respects, including submission of cash to the banking institution for transferring the monetary deposit^[31]. Following the decision of the Dnipropetrovsk Administrative Court of Appeal, the Dnipropetrovsk city election commission registered candidates nominated by the corresponding local organizations of political parties.

The decision of Novy Rozdil city election commission in Lviv oblast on denial of registration of candidates for deputies of the City Council and candidate for mayor nominated by the local organization of political party “Konkretni Spravy” resulted in early termination of powers of the whole composition of this territorial election commission. The corresponding decision was taken by the CEC at the request of a representative of local organization of political party, Lviv District Administrative Court, and Lviv Administrative Court of Appeal which testified on TEC’s inactivity in terms of reconsideration of application request submitted by the local organization of political party and the adoption of a valid decision. The resolution of TEC on refusal to register candidates nominated by the political party “Konkretni Spravy” was deemed illegal and invalidated by court decision which was later confirmed in the court of appeal^[32]. Meanwhile, Novy Rozdil city election commission pointed to violation of the principle of openness and transparency of the electoral process and the procedure for the nomination of candidates (list of candidates wasn’t announced at the party conference) when denying the registration of candidates nominated by the local organization of this political force.

FORMATION OF PRECINCT ELECTION COMMISSIONS

According to Article 23 (1) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, the precinct election commission is formed by the corresponding raion, city (cities of oblast subordination, republican subordination in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and without division into raions), city raion territorial election commission no later than 15 days before the Election Day (until October 9, inclusive) and composed of the chairman, deputy chairman, secretary and other members of the commission. Meanwhile, Article 23 (2) of the same law provides that precinct election commission shall be composed of the following number of members: for small-sized polling stations - 10-14 members; for medium-sized polling stations - 12-16 members; for large-sized polling stations - 14-18 members. At the polling stations where the number of registered voters does not exceed 50 people, the precinct election commission can be composed of a chairman, secretary, and 2-4 members of the commission. These subjects of electoral process were allowed to submit no more than one person to the composition of each of the precinct election commissions.

Current law authorizes the following subjects of electoral process to nominate their candidates to the composition of precinct election commissions: local organizations of political parties which made announcement on the formation of their deputy factions at the first regular session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the current convocation; local organizations of political parties whose nominees were registered as candidates for deputies in multi-mandate constituencies; candidates for deputies in single-mandate constituencies; candidates for mayor of village, settlement, or city. The authorized subjects of electoral process had the chance to exercise this right no later than twenty days before the Election Day (until October 4, 2015, inclusive).

The lot drawing procedure for the inclusion of nominated candidates in the composition of precinct election commissions should have been carried out by the TECs no later than the fifth day following the deadline for nominating candidates to the composition of PECs. At that, those candidates who were nominated by the local organizations of political parties which made announcement on the formation of their deputy factions at the first regular session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the current convocation were not subject to lot drawing. Nominees submitted by above-mentioned subjects of electoral process are included in the composition of every precinct election commission on the grounds of availability of corresponding submission and its compliance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections.

The CEC Resolution №291 as of September 14, 2015, sets out a Draw Procedure for the inclusion of nominated candidates in the composition of precinct election commissions at the elections of deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, deputies of oblast, raion, city, city raion, village and settlement councils, village, mayors and heads of villages and settlements^[33]. Under this Procedure, the number of places which are to be filled by candidates through drawing of lots shall be established by calculating the difference between the maximum possible number of members of the relevant precinct election commission and the number of candidates who are included in the composition of precinct election commission in a mandatory manner. The lot drawing procedure is carried out in the event if the number of the nominees who meet the requirements of the Law and who may be included in the composition of the corresponding precinct election commission by means of drawing lots is larger than the number of vacancies in the composition of the precinct election commission in relation to which the lot drawing procedure for filling the vacant places is carried out. At the same time, Article 23 (7) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections stipulates that the chairman, deputy chairman and secretary of the precinct election commission should be submitted by different subjects of nomination of candidates.

Civic Network OPORA recorded isolated cases of non-compliance with the deadlines for submitting candidates to the composition of precinct election commissions and/or failure to meet the time limit for carrying out a lot drawing procedure and forming the composition of PECs. In particular, in the Podilskiy raion of Kyiv a representative of candidate for mayor O.Omelchenko (the Ukrainian Party “Yednist”) submitted a list of candidates for membership in the composition of PECs after the due date and time which resulted in TEC’s refusal to accept the corresponding documents. In Bilokurakin raion of Luhansk oblast, the local TEC decided to leave without consideration the candidate for membership in the composition of PEC nominated by the All-Ukrainian Union “Svoboda” due to late submission.

Nizhyn raion election commission in Chernihiv oblast, given the lack of appropriate candidates for membership in the PEC, decided to award additional time to the subjects of submission of nominees for finding relevant candidates until October 10, 2015. On October 9, 2015, Yavoriv raion election commission in Lviv oblast approved the quantitative and qualitative composition of the PEC, but failed to fill the executive positions in its composition. As of lunchtime on October 11th (the meeting of the election commission was deferred to a later date twice, first to October 10th, and then to October 11th), the Commission still has not approved the executive staff of PEC.

Due to shortage of staff at the level of PECs, TECs did not take decisions on turning down the nominations submitted by the local organizations of political parties and candidates on a massive scale in the process of formation of PECs. At the same time, TECs were obliged to turn down those candidates for membership in PECs who didn’t have the right to vote at these local elections (Article 21 (1) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections). Amongst others, such cases were recorded in Kominternivskiy raion of Kharkiv, in Beryslav raion of Kherson oblast, in the city of Mukachevo in Zakarpattya oblast, as well as in other cities and raions.

In some requests for the inclusion of candidates in the composition of PECs the so-called “duplicates” were recorded, that is, persons who gave their consent to be submitted as candidates for membership in the composition of PECs to several subjects of submission at once. In particular, Dzerzhinsk raion election commission in the city of Kharkiv has identified 12 persons whose documents were submitted for membership in the composition of PECs in different raions of Kharkiv. Raion election commissions in the city of Kharkiv adopted decisions either on the exclusion of duplicates from all submissions, or on proposing these persons to withdraw of one of their multiple submissions. Latter decision of election commissions was motivated by the fact that it was difficult to form the composition of PECs even with the inclusion of required minimum number of members. Meanwhile, Svatove raion election commission in Luhansk oblast detected the same persons in the lists of candidates for membership in the PECs submitted by the local organizations of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko and “Petro Poroshenko Bloc “Solidarity” party. Following the decision of the commission, duplicates were excluded only from one of the lists of candidates for membership in the PEC.

A conflict situation around the formation of PEC emerged in Illichivsk raion election commission in the city of Mariupol. On October 5, 2015, police reports were filed with the law enforcement agencies in Mariupol in relation to the fact that representatives of All-Ukrainian Union “Batkivshchyna” and All-Ukrainian Union “Samopomich” were not allowed into the premises of the city election commission, in consequence of which the two political parties were unable to submit their candidates for membership in the precinct election commissions on time. The corresponding complaints about inactivity of Illichivsk raion election commission in Mariupol were submitted to the Mariupol city election commission. In turn, on October 7, 2015, Mariupol city election commission adopted a decision on cancellation of the results of the draw concerning the composition of precinct election commissions that were established by Illichivsk raion election commission. Pursuant to the decision of Mariupol city election commission, the Illichivsk raion election commission (Mariupol city) carried out a new draw of lots for the inclusion of candidates in the composition of PEC.

OPORA observers recorded significant problems with the submission of sufficient number of candidates for membership in the composition of PECs nominated by the local organizations of political parties or candidates in most regions of Ukraine. PECs were often formed with the inclusion of minimum number of members required in the composition. Meanwhile, PECs were formed with the inclusion of maximum number of members allowed in the composition mostly in the cities of oblast subordination or large population centers. For example, all PECs located in Rozhyshche and Lokachi raions of Volyn oblast were formed with the inclusion of minimum number of members required in the composition. In Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, all TECs without exception were faced with a problem when the number of submitted candidates for membership in the composition of PECs was not enough for the formation of PECs with the inclusion of required minimum number of members. Observers recorded cases on a relatively massive scale when the number of submitted nominees was less than the minimum allowable number of PEC members. In such cases, the heads of TECs submitted candidates for membership in PECs at their own discretion to arrange for formation of composition of PECs with the inclusion of the required minimum number of members. In particular, such situations occurred at 10 large-sized polling stations located in Komintern raion of Kharkiv, and at 8 polling stations located in Ordzhonikidze raion of Kharkiv. In Beryslav raion of Kherson oblast, local TEC had to carry out activities on additional staffing of 21 PECs. In Odessa, 6 PECs at special polling stations were formed with the inclusion of smaller than the minimum allowable number of members (all of these polling stations are small-sized), while the submission of candidates for membership in these PECs upon the recommendation of chairman of TEC was not carried out. Instead, the personal composition of 9 out of 10 PECs located in the Stanitsya-Luhanska raion of Luhansk oblast consists entirely of members submitted by the chairman of the TEC.

On most occasions, only 5 of 9 local organizations of political parties which participate in the corresponding elections have managed to submit their candidates for membership in the composition of PECs to Putyla raion election commission in Chernivtsi oblast.

Despite the fact that candidates submitted by local organizations of parliamentary parties should be included in the composition of PECs in a mandatory manner on the grounds of availability of corresponding submission, these political forces still often ignored such an opportunity. For example, the local organization of the “Opposition bloc” party in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, which had the right for mandatory inclusion of one candidate in each of the PECs, made corresponding submissions only in the administrative center of oblast.

The local organization of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko did not submit any candidates for membership in the PECs located in Pervomaiskiy raion, in Izyum city, and in Izyum raion of Kharkiv oblast, while the local organization of All-Ukrainian Union “Samopomich” didn’t exercise its right to nominate candidates for membership in PECs in Kupyansk raion. In several raions of Odessa oblast it is a common practice among local organizations of political parties with deputy factions not to exercise their right to submit candidates for membership in PECs. In particular, local organizations of the Radical Party of O.Liashko did not submit their candidates for membership in the composition of PECs in the cities of oblast subordination, namely Izmail and Kotovsk. In the city of Mukachevo in Zakarpattya oblast, the local organization of the All-Ukrainian Union “Samopomich” didn’t exercise its right to nominate candidates for membership in PECs, while in Perechyn raion of Zakarpattya oblast the All-Ukrainian Union “Svoboda” and the “Opposition bloc” party only partially exercised the corresponding right.

The composition of PECs formed with the inclusion of the minimum allowed number of members due to inability of local organizations of political parties and candidates to provide for their representation in the election commissions poses a potential threat to the process of organization and holding the elections on October 25, 2015. The lack of motivation of citizens to participate in the activities of PECs was also linked with the absence of follow-through work of political parties with their supporters, insufficient financial incentives for members of PEC applied by the State, citizens’ fears regarding the possibility of being held liable for potential violation of the laws on elections.

Given the fact that the composition of the majority of PECs was formed with the inclusion of the minimum allowed number of members, the voting process and the process of counting of votes can be complicated by heavy workloads for members of the corresponding commissions. In such circumstances, those subjects of electoral process which have exercised their right to submit candidates for membership in the PECs need to show their interest in ensuring stable and non-conflict work of election commissions. Meanwhile, the TECs and law enforcement agencies must be prepared to give an adequate response to attempts of bad-faith parties to electoral process to disrupt the work of PECs through illegal recall of their representatives included in the composition of these commissions.

VIOLATION OF ELECTION LEGISLATION

Illegal campaigning

References to illegal campaigning refer to violation of the rules of pre-election canvassing, as provided by the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections and specified, in particular in section VIII under the title of “Pre-election campaigning” (Articles 54-60).This is exactly the kind of violation that is often recorded by the observers of Civic Network OPORA.

First of all, we are talking about the practice of distributing and placing campaign materials without output information - information about the print buyer, the organization which printed campaign materials, circulation, as well as information about the persons responsible for the release of campaign materials. More than 60 such cases were recorded in all regions of Ukraine by candidates representing the most active parties - subjects of the electoral process.

Thus, in Chernivtsi oblast illegal campaign materials were placed on the Avenue, at Golovna street as well as other streets in the city. “Ridne misto”, “UKROP” (the Ukrainian Association of Patriots), “Nash Krai”, “Syla Narodu”, All-Ukrainian Union “Batkivshchyna”, BPP “Solidarity” as well as other political parties were the ones responsible for committing these violations. In Vyzhnytsya, Storozhynets and on Chernivtsi-Snyatyn route (at the entrance to Mamayivtsi village) billboards advertising the Agrarian Party of Ukraine without output information were detected. Furthermore, campaigning handouts advertising “Nash Krai” party without any output information were pasted up in the streets of Vyzhnytsya. On October 2, distribution of campaign leaflets containing no output information and advertising candidates for deputies of Chernivtsi oblast and city council nominated by the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko was recorded in the city of Chernivitsi .

Distribution of campaign materials without output information is also one of the most common and widespread violations in Chernihiv oblast. In particular, such campaign materials were printed in support of political party “Nash Krai”, the “Opposition bloc” party, All-Ukrainian Union “Batkivshchyna”, the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, BPP “Solidarity”, and individual candidates taking part in the elections in the city of Chernihiv, Nizhyn, and Bahmach. Distribution of smear campaign materials with obscene publications against candidates for mayor Dmitry Blaush (the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko ) and Vladislav Atroshenko (BPP “Solidarity”) and without output information was recorded in the streets of Chernihiv.

In Ivano-Frankivsk, campaign materials with no output information and containing symbols of All-Ukrainian Union “Svoboda”, All-Ukrainian Union “Batkivshchyna”, Public movement “Narodny control”, and the “Party of simple people of Serhiy Kaplin” were detected.

In Kyiv oblast, a billboard advertising political party “Nash Krai” was placed on the building of shopping center “Dnipro” which is a community property of Slavutych city. This campaign material did not contain any information about the print buyer, the organization which printed campaign material, circulation, as well as information about the persons responsible for the release of campaign materials.

In Lviv oblast - Public movement “Narodny control” in Sambir, and candidate for mayor nominated by Public movement “Narodny control” in Turka distributed their campaign materials which did not include any output information. OPORA observers filed corresponding complaints with TEC.

In Odessa oblast, distribution of printed campaign materials without output information was carried out during the first week of October by “Samopomich” party (in Odessa city) and by candidate for deputy of city council nominated by the Ukrainian naval party of Serhiy Kivalov.

Citizens producing or ordering production of such campaign materials become liable to punishment in the form of imposition of fine amounting to 10-30 tax-exempt minimum wages of citizens while public officials would get a fine in the amount of 50-70 tax-exempt minimum wages of citizens for the same offence. Citizens distributing (delivery, posting, handout) such campaign materials during the election process become liable to punishment in the form of imposition of fine amounting to 3-5 tax-exempt minimum wages of citizens and while public officials would get a fine in the amount of 20-30 tax-exempt minimum wages of citizens (Article 212-13 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences).

Another most common violation of the electoral legislation is the distribution (placement) of campaign materials and political advertising in places prohibited by law - the monuments of architecture, outside and inside public transport, inside the premises and on the outside of the buildings of subway stations, bus and railway stations, river and sea ports and airports, as well as in places where they impede the road-traffic safety.

Thus, on October 8 in Kharkiv oblast, OPORA observers recorded the presence of political advertising supporting the incumbent mayor Hennadiy Kernes and the political party “Vidrodzhennya” which nominated him as a candidate for mayor of Kharkiv mayor and for deputy of Kharkiv city council. The political advertisement was placed inside the premises and on the outside of the buildings of Kharkiv subway stations, including stations “Botanical Garden”, “Naukova”, “August 23^rd”. Starting at least from August 2015, the “Vidrodzhennya” party labels appeared on public transport including municipal transport where they remain thus far even after a considerable public outcry against this problem. On September 28, OPORA observers recorded the presence of two huge over-the-street banners bearing the labels of “Kharkiv”, “Nash Krai”, the “Political party”, “Alexander Feldman” in the center of Kharkiv, at Ploshcha Svobody, 5, on the outside of the building of Dezhprom which is a famous landmark of national importance and also a public utility company.

In Chernihiv oblast, cases of placement of campaign materials on poles, fences, shop-windows, cars (rather than in specially designated areas) were recorded in the cities of Chernihiv, Nizhyn, Bakhmach, Mena, and in Chernihiv raion.

OPORA observers in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk recorded the pasting up of campaign materials in violation of the rules of provision of urban amenities - on poles, transmission towers, building facades, entrances of apartment buildings and other places which are not specially designated for campaigning. Among the most active offenders are the following parties: Petro Poroshenko Bloc “Solidarity”, All-Ukrainian Union “Svoboda”, All-Ukrainian Union “Batkivshchyna”, “Volya” and “Hromadyanska Posytsia”, “Narodny Control”, All-Ukrainian Union “Samopomich”, “Nash Krai”, and the “Ukrainian Association of Patriots “UKROP”. In particular, the representative of OPORA recorded the fact of distribution of campaign posters with political advertising of Olga Kostiv in public transport. Olga Kostiv is a candidate for deputy of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council nominated by Petro Poroshenko Bloc “Solidarity”. Campaign posters in her support were placed on the windows of minibuses running on bus route №23. Police officers are verifying this fact.

In Kherson, candidate for mayor of Kherson city nominated by the Party of Spirituality and Patriotism of Olexiy Rybakov places his campaign materials in urban minibuses. The same actions are performed by candidates representing the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko in minibuses running on bus routes №5, 17, and 35.

In Khmelnitsky oblast, facts of placement of campaign materials advertising political parties “Vidrodzhennya” and “Ridne Misto” were recorded in public transport. In Teofipol settlement, campaign materials advertising political party “Za Konkretni Spravy” were present in commuter bus running on route Teofipol-Ternopil.

In Odessa oblast, a billboard advertising political party “Nash Krai” was detected inside the premise of raion Palace of Culture in Tatarbunary (Gorky Street).

In the town of Lubny in Poltava oblast, placement of campaign materials in support of a candidate for mayor Olexandr Siryk representing the Radical Party was recorded in public transport.

In Ternopil, billboards with political advertisement of All-Ukrainian Union “Samopomich” and candidate representing the All-Ukrainian Union “Svoboda” Serhiy Nadal were placed on the House of Culture “Zaliznychnyk” – which is a state-owned building. Campaign materials in support of the candidate for mayor of Ternopil Mykhailo Ratushniak (All-Ukrainian Union “Batkivshchyna”) were placed on the outside of the building of Ternopil railway station. A video recording of the conference of the All-Ukrainian Union “Svoboda” was shown on the monitors installed in the passenger saloons of trolley buses in Ternopil.

In Volyn oblast, public transport buses with political advertisement of the European party of Ukraine and the portrait of its leader placed on their outer surface were cruising the streets of Lutsk even before the registration of candidates nominated by the local organization of this political party. After the registration of candidates of the European party of Ukraine, the public minibus taxis with political advertising of this party continue running on bus routes with the addition of political advertising of candidate for mayor Olena Golyeva representing the same party.

In Zhytomyr, campaign materials of candidates for deputies, Dmitry Tkachuk and Iryna Kotsiuba, nominated by Petro Poroshenko Bloc “Solidarity” party and the candidate for deputy Olexander Fedorenko representing the party “Narodny Control” were found in places which were not designated for posting campaign materials by local authorities. A billboard with political advertising of candidate for mayor Svitlana Pakholchuk nominated by political party “Narodny Control” was placed on the outside of the building of bus terminal located in Zhytomyr.

Citizens campaigning in places prohibited by law become liable to punishment in the form of imposition of fine amounting to 30-50 tax-exempt minimum wages of citizens while public officials would get a fine in the amount of 50-80 tax-exempt minimum wages of citizens (Article 212-10 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences). Citizens violating the procedure for placing campaign materials or political advertising or placing them in areas prohibited by law - become liable to punishment in the form of imposition of fine amounting to 5-10 tax-exempt minimum wages of citizens, while the officials of companies-distributors of political advertising would get a fine in the amount of 100-200 tax-exempt minimum wages of citizens (Article 212-14 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences).

In its previous reports Civic Network OPORA has repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that some subjects of electoral process did not adhere to procedure for running pre-election campaign established by law, and started their pre-election campaigns before official registration as candidates and creation of electoral funds. Moreover, after the end of the stage of registration of candidates and creation of electoral funds the financing of the election campaigns using funds from sources other than the electoral funds has become a widespread practice.

Thus, flyers featuring campaign materials as well as the symbols, colors and name of Cherkashchany All-Ukrainian Union were distributed in Gorodyshche town located in Cherkasy oblast, although they were marketed as an advertisement of public organization and therefore not financed from the electoral fund.

On October 4, political party “UKROP” organized a concert at Philharmonic Square in Chernivtsi on the occasion of celebration of the City Day. The stage on which musicians performed in the concert and candidates of “UKROP” party made their speeches was decorated with the symbols of this political force. However, observers were reliably informed that this event was not financed through the electoral fund of local or oblast organization of political party “UKROP”, or through the electoral funds of its candidates.

Virtually all cases of distribution of campaign materials without output information which were recorded by OPORA observers also indicate that these election campaigns were not financed through the electoral funds of candidates. Meanwhile, the use of funds from sources other than the electoral funds for financing election campaigns of candidates is expressly prohibited by law (point 4 of paragraph 4 of Article 4 of the Law, Article 54 (6) of the Law).

Administrative resource abuse

By administrative resource abuse OPORA refers to various forms of using official power and resources to the electoral benefit of specific candidates and parties. Most frequently, OPORA observers have been registering facts of campaigning by taking advantage of official position as well as publishing campaign materials in publicly owned mass media or local government and state authority official publications.

For instance, in Chyhyryn district (Cherkassy oblast), Mykhailo Kalinichenko, a candidate for deputy of the Oblast Council in the Electoral District No 47 from Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarnist^[34] and a Direcor General of television and radio broadcasting company “Ros” has arranged meet-the artist events at educational institutions gathering their staff and campaigning to vote for him.

In Chernihiv oblast, starting from September, Chernihiv municipal news-paper Chernihivski vidomosti^[35] has been distributed at campaigning tents of the political party Nash Krai^[36], whose candidate for mayor Oleksandr Sokolov is currently running the office. Before that time, it could only be purchased in press kiosks. Almost identical situation has been registered with the news-paper of Pryluky territorial community Hrad Pryluki^[37], established by Pryluki city council. The editions of 16.09.2015 and 30.09.2015 contained campaigning materials for the political party UKROP. In the city of Chernihiv, the current mayor and a candidate for this office from the political party Nash Krai Oleksandr Sokolov initiated payments of social benefits for poor families on the eve of the election in the framework of the Programme on granting one-time financial aid to Chernihiv citizens in 2014-2018.

In Chernivtsi oblast, rector of the Chernivtsi National University Stepan Melnychuk taking advantage of his office, campaigns in favour of the candidate for mayor, Head of the Department of Capital Development of Chernivtsi Oblast State Administration Oleksandr Purshaga (AUU Batkivschyna^[38]). In Sokyrianyi district, the Head of the District Council and a candidate for deputy of the Oblast Council from Agrarian Party V.Kozak and his subordinates engage people into their party threatening with firing them in case of nominating from other parties.

In Dnipropetrovsk oblast, the Head of Krynychany District State Administration Oleh Hapich arranged talks with school principals, where he campaigned for the Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc and insisted that principals should have arranged similar meetings with their staff.

On October 10, in the city of Kharkiv, in the yard of the residential block of flats at 140 Akademika Pavlova St. at a children playground, OPORA observers discovered that employees of the Public Utility Company Kharkovblahoustroistvo^[39] were campaigning for the party Vidrodzhennia^[40] during the neighbourhood clean-up.

On October 1, in the town of Letychiv (Khmelnytskyi oblast) there was an official ceremony for the Elderly People Day. The event was held under the auspice of the party Za Konkretni Spravy^[41] in the premises of Letychiv District Council.

In the city of Kyiv, on October 5 at about 11 am next to the building at 11 Kioto st. the ceremony of signing direct agreements between PAT AK Kyivvodokanal^[42] and inhabitants of the nearby houses. During the event, printed campaign materials for the First Deputy Director General on Economy and Finance of PAT AK Kyivvodokanal Vita Strukova were distributed among the people. Vita Strukova is a member of the Ukrainian Party Iednist^[43] and is nominated for deputy of the Kyiv City Council in the Electoral District No 39 in Desnianskyi District.

On October 1 in the city of Kyiv currently acting mayor Vitalii Klitchko met with heads and volunteers of veteran NGOs on the occasion of Veteran Day and International Elderly People Day. During the event, Vitalii Klitchko told that more than 300 thousand citizens of Kyiv have received one-time financial aid from the municipal authorities. Also, Mr. Klitchko noted that today the authorities do their best to improve lives of the most vulnerable citizens and stressed that on the occasion of the 70^th anniversary of the WWII’s end all war veterans living in Kyiv received targeted social aid. Its total sum made up 24 million UAH. Another charitable campaigning event on behalf of Vitalii Klitchko is a discount for 10 cardio-vascular medications in the network of municipal pharmacies Farmacia. Only Kyiv citizen card holders will be able to buy those medications. Campaigners for Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarnist distribute leaflets about this V.Klitchko’s initiative.

In Kyiv oblast, an interim mayor of the city of Vyshhorod and a candidate for this office Maria Reshetnikova on the eve of the Teacher’s Day has presented an aquarium purchased at the expense of the City Council to a district specialized school.

Yurii Hranaturovm, an acting mayor of the city of Mykolaiv and a candidate for the mayor’s office campaigns at parents and teachers meetings in schools. For instance, in the comprehensive school No 60 a special teaching staff meeting was arranged on October 12, although a similar meeting took place only a week before.

In Odessa oblast, on September 30, the Head of Odeasa Oblast State Administration Mikheil Saakashvili participated in a campaign meeting with voters in favour of the candidate for mayor from Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarnist Oleksandr Borovyk. The meeting took place during business hours.

In the city of Poltava, a local assistance programme for disabled people Turbota^[44] is in effect. Personal invitations to receive this aid at a post-office contained symbols of the party Sovist Ukrainy^[45].

In Vinnytsia oblast, on October 8, a candidate for mayor of the city of Vinnytsia Liudmyla Scherbakova (nominated by city organization of the party Batkivschyna) met with employees of Vinnytsia Oblast Motorway Service Company (DP Vinnytskyi oblavtodor). The meeting took place in the conference hall of the company during business hours (at 12 noon).

In the city of Lutsk, repair works of motorway infrastructure, residential neighbourhoods and children playgrounds were highly intensified just before the start of election process. The programme of residential areas capital repairs for 2015-2019 was approved by the City Council (Decision No 68/69, 24.12.2014). Amendments to the Programme were made by the City Council Decision No 78/120 on 30.09.2015. The current mayor of Lutsk who is also a candidate for this office from the political party Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarnist Mykola Romaniuk together with several deputies of the City Council has regularly participated in openings of the repaired sites. Also, throughout September, in the city of Lutsk radio promotions on the mayor’s activities were broadcasted at public transport stops every half an hour.

In Donetsk oblast, at Druzhkivka comprehensive school No 17, whose principal is nominated as a candidate for deputy of the City Council, students’ parents were given news-papers of the political party Nash Krai local organization. On October 6, in the city of Slov’iansk there took place a meeting of the comprehensive school No 13 staff with the leader of Nash Krai political party oblast organization S.Tretiakov. The meeting was permitted by the school principal. Also in Slov’iansk, on October 5 2015, by the phone call of the Head of Department of Education V.Ovcharenko representatives of all educational institutions of the city met with the general M.Malomuzh. During the meeting, The Ukrainian party of Honour, Fighting Corruption and Organized Crimes promoted its electoral programme.

Candidates, who hold positions of state authority, at local governance institutions, military units (organizations), public enterprises, institutions or organizations (including part-time occupation), are prohibited to use their subordinates, company vehicles, means of communication, equipment premises and other means and resources as well as use staff meetings for election campaigning or any kind of work related with election campaigning (Article 60 (2) of the Law). Also, the Law explicitly prohibits participation of state and local government officials in electoral campaigning during business hours except when those officials are candidates themselves (Article 1 (1) (3) of the Law).

Voter Bribery

Instances of interfering with the free formation and expression of a voters’ will by various forms of material influences and incentives become ever more frequent. First of all, instances of indirect bribery are being registered such as providing goods, services, non-material assets etc. either for free or on a preferential basis. In particular, this includes targeted aid to voters for medical treatment, recreation, improvement of social and household conditions; distribution of food parcels; organizational and financial assistance for mass public (sports, cultural, entertainment, patriotic) events by candidates and parties; improvement of residential areas and infrastructure such as building children and sports playgrounds, motorway repairs, window installation, multi-flat buildings capital repairs etc.

For instance, in Cherkasy oblast in the city of Khrystynivka, on the occasion of the Elderly People Day officials of the Khrystynivka District State Administration were distributing food parcels from the vehicle with symbols of the party Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarnist. The value of one parcel was less than 60 UAH, yet food packages contained the news-paper Solidarnist.

Under the auspice of the AUU Cherkashchany^[46], the road entering the village of Stanislavchyk in Shpola District was repaired, the volleyball ground was installed in the city of Shpola as well as Charitable Fair was arranged where goods were priced at their production cost.

On October 11, the candidate for mayor of the city of Chyhyryn Stepan Bukhanets presented the winners of children competition that he has arranged with football strips.

During the official ceremony on the occasion of Teacher’s Day in Pryluki city Palace of Culture, the following candidates, while greeting participants, gave them envelopes: Dmitro Pakhmov, a candidate for mayor of the city of Pryluki from Agrarian Party of Ukraine, Viktor Kopachevskyi, the first number in the candidate list for deputies of Pryluki City Council from the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, Valerii Dubil, an acting People’s Deputy of Ukraine, the number one in the candidate list for deputies of Chernhiv Oblast Council from AUU Batkivschyna. According to participants, there was money in the envelopes but none of the participants have dared to sign a violation act.

In Chernihiv oblast, the Charitable Fund Nash Krai offers voters a social card that provides discounts in stores and pharmacies, as well as targeted aid etc. Information about this card is promoted in printed publications of the political party Nash Krai, distributed either by campaigners or via mail.

In Chernivtsi oblast, on October 7, Chernivtsi city organization of the political party “AVTO-MAIDAN” was distributing presents at the geriatric home. This was reported by the party press-service on the local web-site. The report also says that the packages were distributed by the candidate in that electoral district from the party “AVTO-MAIDAN” Inna Zarnitsyna. The packages with party symbols contained personal hygiene products, water and food.

On October 7-8, in the city of Chernivtsi at 21 Pivdenno-Kiltseva st., children playground was installed at the expense of TOV “ROMA”. In the same electoral district (No 35) the candidate from People’s Control Oksana Kinaschuk is nominated, who is the Head of Legal Department at TOV “ROMA”.

On October 11, in the city of Kharkiv, the official observers of Civic Network OPORA discovered electoral activities with signs of voter bribery on behalf of the party Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarnist. In the premises of “Kaspii” café at 62-a Natalia Uzhvii st., unknown individuals were distributing free “pharmacies of health” – white packages with the logo of Health company, in which there were boxes with Solidarnist logo.

In Kharkivska oblast, on October 10, in the city of Izium at the “New Beach” at Pershotravneva st. the mass event was arranged by the city organization of the political party Volunteers’ Party of Ukraine. During the event, cotton-candies, tea and pasties were served for free. Also, free amusement facilities for children was installed on the site. Answering the question of the OPORA observer at whose expense the event was arranged, Vitalii Lukienko, the number one in the candidate list from the local party organization, stressed that the event was arranged at candidates’ personal expense.

On October 10, in the city of Izium, in the premises of the DK im.Kirova^[47] at Lenin ave., after the meeting with self-nominating candidate for mayor Volodymyr Klymenko everyone could receive three kilograms of wheat flour for 1 UAH.

In Kherson oblast, the party “UKROP” has arranged campaigning concerts featuring the Antitela band (on October 10 in the city of Nova Kakhovka, October 11 in the city of Kherson), during which there were lotteries for winning an IPhone. On October 11, at one of the residential block yards the party Opposition Bloc opened a children playground installed with their support.

In Khmelnitskyi oblast, in the town of Bilohir’ia, on October 9, the Agrarian Party of Ukraine arranged food sales at discount prices as a campaigning event. In the city of Volochysk and in the town of Bilohir’ia there took place “familly holidays” (free amusement facilities and serving of sweets). These events were arranged by the political party Za Konkretni Spravy (posters mentioned Civic Union Za Konkretni Spravi). The party Za Konkretni Spravi actively uses campaigning charity in Krasyliv district sponsoring window installation in schools and kindergartens, equipping computer class-rooms in schools (80 computers for Krasyliv city schools), purchasing dye for schools and kindergartens, arranging capital repairs in village councils and hospitals, arranging holidays for children and education employees.

In the city of Kyiv, On September 29, the political party Rukh za Reformy^[48] arranged the “Health Day” at BK Darnytsia, 18 Kostiantyna Zaslonova st. Citizens of the capital were offered free medical examination at that event. In order to pass the examination, citizens had to provide their personal data (full name, residence address, phone number and signature).

At the same time, the candidate for deputy of Kyiv City Council from the party Iednist Oleh Repa (electoral district No 51) is arranging free pilgrimage tours to the city of Pochaiv in Krmenets district of Ternopil oblast.

 A candidate for deputy of Lviv City Council in the electoral district No 20 from the party Hromadianska Pozytsia^[49] Nazar Palidovych has distributed food parcels (bread) with campaigning materials to pensioners in the city of Lviv.

On October 8, food sale at discount prices from the candidate to the City Council from the political Party Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarnist V’iacheslav Brodovskyi was registered in the city of Mykolaiv. On October 10, Vitalii Voronov, a candidate for mayor from the political party “Vidrodzhennia” opened a new children playground at 31 Dzerzhinskoho st.

In the city of Odesa, on October 8, repair works of residential block pass-ways were performed on behalf of Dmitro Kit, a candidate for deputy of Odesa City Council from the party Doviriai Dilam^[50] (Malynovskyi district). On October 4, children playground was installed on behalf of V.Podhorodynskyi (Ukrainian Marine Party of S.Kivalov). The workers who did the installation wore cloaks with inscriptions “Ukrainian Marine Party of Serhii Kivalov. Vadym Podhorodynskyi” (Prymorskyi district). On October 2, repair works of street lights were performed in cloaks with inscriptions “Ukrainian Marine Party of Serhii Kivalov” (Kyivskyi district). On October 11, food parcels in the packages with inscription “Dart Vader Bloc” were distributed door-to-door in Suvorivskyi district of the city.

On September 30, in the city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi (Odesa oblast), repair works of residential block pass-ways were performed on behalf of the candidates for deputies of the City Council from the party Opposition Bloc.

In the city of Myrhorod (Poltava oblast), the Agrarian Party of Ukraine has arranged a fair, where food was sold at discount prices. Calls to vote for candidates from the Agrarian party were sounding throughout the event.

On October 10, in the village of Hoscha (Rivne oblast) a children playground was installed in a local school-yard, next to which the banner saying “Petro Porosheko’s Bloc Solidarnist without imprint was placed. The playground installation was done with support of the candidate for deputy of the Oblast Council from the political party Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarnist Yurii Blahodyr.

The most notable instances of indirect voter bribery in Volyn oblast were those using Novyi Lutsk^[51] fund by Oleksandr Tovsteniuk and Ihor Palytsia during the electoral campaign. This included arranging free theater performances for specific categories of citizens, distribution of free certificates for medications and food, arranging free spa-recreation for veterans and winners of school Olympiads, installation of children and sports playgrounds in schools, arranging various concerts with distribution of presents.

In the city of Kivertsi, on October 4, the political party Ukrainian Union of Patriots UKROP arranged a harvest festival Ukropivski Obzhynky^[52], at which presents were given and free kulish^[53]was served to citizens in addition to the free concert and free transportation to and from the festival site.

In Zhytomir oblast, on October 6, a candidate for deputy of Zhytomir Oblast Council from the party Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarnist Oleh Malinovskyi arranged a charitable event for installation of reinforced plastic windows at which he had a meeting with voters. The announcement says that in the residential bloc yard at 10 Staryi Bulvar St., the charitable event will take place for reinforced plastic windows setup with free professional advice on their maintenance. A meeting with the candidate took place during the event.

On October 2, representatives of the candidate for deputy of Zhytomyr Oblast Council from Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarnist Vladyslav Lavrukhin visited all the schools in every town and village of Chudniv district belonging to the electoral district No40 (the city of Chudniv, the towns of Vakulenchuk, Velyki Korovyntsi, the villages of Dubysche, Didkivtsi, P’iatka, Korochenky, Tiutiunnyky, Rachky, Mali Korovyntsi, Babushky, Beizymivka and Turchynivka), where, on behalf of the candidate, they greeted teachers with the Teacher’s Day, presenting sparkling wine and tarts. Also, they distributed the fresh issue of Zhyttia Chudnivschyni^[54] news-paper with a campaigning article on Mr.Lavrukhin who is also a director of Chudniv distillery.

Proposal, promise or giving a voter an improper advantage for any kind of acting or not acting in regard to direct exercise of his/her voting right (direct and indirect bribery) are punished by the restraint of liberty for a term not exceeding three years or by imprisonment for the same term with the deprivation of the right to hold specific offices or engage in specific activities for a term of one to three years. Electoral campaigning by granting enterprises, institutions and organizations improper advantage or by providing free goods, works or services is punished by the restraint of liberty for a term of two to four years or by imprisonment for the same term with the deprivation of the right to hold specific offices or engage in specific activities for a term of one to three years.

Voters are also criminally liable for bribery (either direct or indirect) by agreeing on receiving an improper advantage in exchange for their vote. Acceptance of proposal, promise or receiving of an improper advantage by voter for him/herself or for a third party for either acting or not acting in regard to direct exercise of his/her voting right, regardless of the actual voting of an individual and voting results, is punished by a fine of one hundred to three hundred of non-taxable personal income minimums or by correctional tasks for a term not exceeding two years, or by the restraint of liberty for the same term.

Obstructions to civic observers’ and journalists’ work

Although occasional, there are instances of official observers’ and journalists’ rights violations being registered. In particular those of deprivation of right to review election documentation, obstructions to photo-, video and audio recording as well as unlawful deprivation of the right to be present at election commission meetings.

On October 8, Cherkasy city election commission held part of its meeting in camera, not allowing journalists, authorized persons, and party representatives to be present on grounds that ballot protection was to be discussed.

Sokyriany city electoral commission (Chernivetska oblast) refused an OPORA observer an opportunity to review biographies and income declarations of candidates for mayor.

In Dnipropetrovsk oblast, on October 9, members of Samarskyi city district electoral commission Valentyna Pankulich and Natalia Volok used physical force against a journalist at sortition of precinct electoral commission members. Immediately after the incident, the journalist called 102 patrol and filed a crime incident report to the representatives of Samarskyi district police department.

In Kharkiv oblast, several times in a row starting from September 30, Oleksandr Konoval, at that time Head of Kharkiv Oblast electoral commission, refused official OPORA observers and reporters from Tochka Opory^[55] periodical an opportunity to review documents on the process of registration of candidates for deputies of Kharkiv Oblast Council. Head of the Novovodolazk district electoral commission in Kharkiv oblast Olena Karas refused an OPORA observer an opportunity to review resolutions and annexes to them on approving candidates for deputies of the District Council from local organizations and parties in territorial electoral districts of Novovodolazk district.

In the city of Kharkiv, on October 11, while official observers of the Civic Network OPORA attempted to register the fact of voter bribery by representatives of local party organization of Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarnist distributing free “health pharmacies” to voters at 62-a Natalii Uzhvii (in the premises of “Kaspii” café), four unidentified individuals used force against the OPORA official observers Olena Ukrainets and Mykola Zinchenko. The observers have filed reports to the police requiring to identify individuals obstructing official observers’ activities using physical force without inflicting injuries and hold them accountable.

In Mykolaiv oblast, a journalist from the web-based media Tut Info was refused the right to be present at the city of Buh electoral commission meeting. Commission members did not like his making a video-recording. The journalist filed a report to the police.

On October 7, a journalist from the periodical Tochka Opory of the Civic Network OPORA was not allowed to be present at the meeting of Mukachevo city electoral commission (in Zakarpattya oblast). Head of the commission Volodymyr Homeniuk (the party Petro Poroshenko Bloc Solidarnist) and the commission member Serhii Nosaliuk (the party Opposition Bloc) asked the police to lead the OPORA representative out of the commission premises as an “unidentified individual”.

According to the Law, obstruction to an official observer or other subject of the election process performing his/her professional duties is punished by the restraint of liberty for a term not exceeding three years or by imprisonment for the same term (Article 157 (1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Damaging campaigning materials, criminal interference in the election process

Instances of forceful interference in the election process and obstructions to candidates’ and parties’ campaigning are rare and of non-systemic character. The most frequently registered incidents are related to damaging campaigning materials.

For instance, on October11, in the city of Kolomyia (Ivano-Frankivsk oblast) there has been registered a fact of damaging campaigning materials of the candidate for mayor Liubomyr Glushkov with dye. Unidentified individuals have damaged with dye the promotion materials posted at out-of-home advertising media. The police classify this incident as a hooliganism which is an administrative offence.

In the city of Cherkasy, several cubes with promotion of the candidate for mayor from Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarnist Oleksandr Revutskyi were first vandalized with drawings and then broken down.

On October 10, in the city of Chernivtsi (66, Nezalezhnosti ave.) there was registered a damaged city-light with promotion of the candidate for deputy of Chernivtsi City Council from the party Nash Krai Illia Romaniuk. The surface on the city-light was damaged and a sheet of paper with the inscription “Party of regions Member” was glued on top of the candidate’s image.

In the city of Sumy, a campaigning tent of the Civic Organization Samopomich, from which “volunteers” provided advice on how to apply for subsidies, was damaged several times. The tent was set on fire first and then destroyed completely on the following day.

One of the forms of criminal interference in the election process is use of violence and threats, which obstruct free formation and expression of a voter’s will and is explicitly prohibited by the Law (Article 6 (3) of the Law). Such incidents took place in several regions of Ukraine.

In Kharkiv oblast, on September 30, Anatolii Rodzynskii, a candidate for mayor, was attacked receiving brain concussion as a result. Law enforcement authorities reacted to the beating of the candidate for mayor of the city of Kharkiv and listed the incident in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations as an assassination attempt under Article 15(2) and Article 115 (1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

On October 2, in the city of Kharkiv, in the vicinity of the underground station “Marshala Zhukova”, four unidentified individuals in ski masks and military fatigues attacked a campaigning point of the candidate from the party Vidrodzhennia Hennadii Kernes, damaged the tent (by disintegrating the sectional metal frame and tearing apart the fabric) and beat up the campaigners. With regard to this fact a criminal proceeding has been opened under Article 296 (2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (hooliganism committed by the group of people).

In Kherson oblast, on October 7, Head of Kahovka city electoral commission was attacked at the porch of the house she lives in. She has received threats as well. On the night from October 4 to 5 in the city of Nova Kakhovka, the apartment door of the candidate for deputy of the Nova Kakhovka City Council Vadym Kriukiv nominated by the political party “Sovist Ukrainy” was set on fire. The investigation is under way.

On October 2015, at about 5 am in the village of Mynkivtsi (Dunaievetskyi district of Khmelnytskyi oblast) unidentified individuals attacked the place of residence of the candidate to Dunaivtsi City Council from the AUU Sboboda Lilia Iakshina.

On October 11 night, an explosive was thrown into the yard of the candidate for mayor of Odesa city Serhii Kivalov’s house.

In Volyn oblast, on the night from October 10 to 11, a candidate for deputy of Lutsk City Council from the political party “Hromadianska Pozitsia” Serhii Virnyi was inflicted with injuries, while on October 12 unidentified individuals inflicted sever injuries to the candidate for deputy of Lutsk City Council Serhii Ryzhkov. Both candidates believe these incidents to be connected with their election activities.

Such offences entail criminal liability in the form of the restraint of liberty for a term from two to five years or imprisonment for the same term (Article 157 (2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

RECOMMENDATIONS

To local cells of political parties and candidates:

 

• To ensure effective work of local party cells and candidate representatives as part of electoral commissions, especially at precinct commission level, considering that those are formed at their minimal composition.
• To actively use opportunities of legal contestation of decisions and actions of electoral commissions as well as violations of election legislation without excessive applications to Central Election Commission.

 

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