Central Election Commission

01196, Kyiv, 1, Lesi Ukrainky sq.

Copy to: Ministry of foreign affairs of Ukraine

Working group in preparation and conduct of elections of

the President of Ukraine

010118, Kyiv, 1, Mykhailivska sq.

 

Civil Network OPORA

Kyiv, 10/10 Pidvysotskoho st., off. 3

 

Highly esteemed Head and members of the Central Election Commission,

Civil Network, OPORA is an independent, non-governmental, and non-partisan nationwide organization that mobilizes citizens to influence and monitor government decisions that impact people`s lives. In this presidential election, OPORA will cover 225 constituencies across Ukraine with their 74 long-term observers and will recruit over 1,000 observers to monitor the Election Day. OPORA will also monitor the process of vote counting and complaints` process to safeguard fair elections and protect voters` choices.

Civil Network OPORA is concerned about the lack of proper adjustment of the voting procedure at foreign election precincts. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine issued the decision which authorized the citizens of Ukraine, who are not registered at the consulates, to vote for the President. However, the law of Ukraine "On election of the President of Ukraine" does not provide concrete ways of how this right can be realized by the citizens who are staying abroad at the day of elections.

According to the point 5, part 1, Article 17 of the Law of Ukraine "On Central Election Commission", this body shall provide consultative and methodical support to election commissions, adopt instructions and recommendations for election commissions on how current Ukrainian election legislation should be used. In connection with this, Civil Network OPORA addresses Central Election Commission with recommendations to adopt an instruction on the procedure of voting at foreign precincts, in particular:

  • All monitoring organizations are concerned about the possibility of uneven use of the Law as clear legislative demands have not been provided so far. Central Election Commission shall provide respective explanations for the procedure of how diplomatic institutions and consulates should organize the process of voting on January, 17, 2010. OPORA recommends CEC to provide staff of these institutions, members of election commissions at foreign precincts and official observers with clear instructions on preparation and conduct of voting process.
  • Official observers play a crucial role in assuring openness and transparency of voting procedure at foreign precincts. Observers from candidates, international organizations, mass media representatives monitor election process in order to safeguard accurate results and integrity of election process. Defending openness of election process, Civil Network OPORA recommends CEC to simplify the procedure of submitting proposals on the registration of official observers from international organizations at foreign precincts. In particular, to allow diplomatic institutions and consulates to issue IDs for official observers; to make it possible for international organizations to fax or send electronic copy of an application form of a person proposed to be registered as an observer to CEC together with his/her originals submitted to diplomatic institutions and consulates. It will enable observers to save the time needed to travel to Kyiv in order to get IDs.
  • For the time being, there are no common international standards of voting at foreign precincts, but the best international practice shows that a voter can check his last name in the electronic version of the voter`s list placed at the CEC official web-site or web-sites of consulates. Despite the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on October, 19, 2009, #26-рп/ 2009 about the amendments to some of legislative norms on the election of the President of Ukraine, which points out at non-constitutional grounds for including voter`s lists at the base of consulates` registration data, CEC`s Decree #475 on December, 12, 2009 "On explanation about compiling and specifying the list of voters for preparation and conduct of the Presidential elections on January, 17, 2010" does not include procedure of including and checking voters` data on other grounds. Civil Network OPORA recommends CEC to establish a simplified procedure for including and checking  data about foreign voters and make a provision for an explanation about what document should be submitted to be included to the list of voters, who are not registered in consulates; to provide explanations about the grounds for including voters` data to the corrected list according to the part 10, Article 36-1 of the Law "On the Election of the President of Ukraine"; make it possible for voters who arrived to a foreign country a day prior to elections to be included into the list of voters.
  • CEC`s Decree #445 on December, 9, 2009 "On the list of foreign countries, where a considerable number of voters lives" specifies the need of publicizing information about the date and time of voting and location of respective polling stations and its submission to the Ministry of foreign affairs and to 114 foreign election precincts (once they are formed).  Civil Network OPORA recommends to design instructions and appropriate recourses for farther on informing of voters by consulates by means of mass media, Internet, web-sites, e-mail deliveries, local organizations and churches at densely populated by Ukrainians areas. Special attention should be paid to those people, who have a right to vote at foreign precincts and have all the demanded documents.
  • Civil Network OPORA recommends informing citizens of Ukraine who are staying abroad in an equal and open way, once the resources are available.
  • Openness of the process of vote counting and results announcement is a crucially important factor which presents respect to voters` choice. That is particularly important beyond the borders of the country, where doubts on results accuracy may be stronger than within the country, where official observers from 18 candidates, international organizations and mass media will monitor voting and counting processes. Civil network OPORA recommends CEC to organize the process of vote counting at foreign precincts with the participation of official observers and announce results for every foreign precinct in order to increase public trust.
  • According to part 1, point 1, part 3, Article 14 of the Law of Ukraine "On Central Election Commission" on June, 30, 2004, recommendations and addresses with a request to assist realization of voters` rights, provide consultative support and recommendations on preparation and conduct of elections, explanations about the use of the election legislation, or thoughts and advice on how the legislation and the work of election commissions can be improved shall be submitted to the Central Election Commission as application forms.

According to part 2, Article 15 of the Law "On Central Election Commission", appeals submitted to the Commission during the election process and concerned this process, shall be considered by the Commission in five day term as the appeal was received, if another term is not set in the Law of Ukraine "On Election". The day of appeal or complaint submission is the day when it was factually received by the Commission. 

OPORA respects all the efforts of the Central Election Commission in assisting transparency of Presidential elections in Ukraine and hopes that proposals mentioned in the address will be taken into account.