October 28, 2014

First results of the election observation from CVU and OPORA

The overall conduct of the early Parliamentary elections has demonstrated a strengthened democracy in Ukraine. Local election observers have recognized Ukraine’s parliamentary elections as democratic, reported Berit Lindeman, the representative of the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, during a press conference on October 27, 2014 at the International Media Center in Kyiv.

A total of 6,000 domestic observers attended elections proceedings on election day, in addition to 200 long-term observers who documented the course of the entire election campaign, reported Chairman of the Board of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU) Oleksiy Koshel. “Observers identified more than 850 violations, Koshel noted”, but 85% were of a technical or procedural nature and did not have an impact on the outcome of the election. “About 90% of violations occurred due to the majoritarian, first-past-the-post component of the electoral system. OPORA and CVU agree that the electoral system should be amended to a proportional system.

Most of the violations, as OPORA analyst Alexander Neberykut explained, were caused by the incompetence of election commission members rather than targeted attempts to falsify results. However numerous violations were also related to the frequent replacement of commission members, including on election day itself.

According to parallel vote tabulation, the final voter turnout is 51.2%. As Neberykut explained, the figure is “lower than in previous years, but not critical.” There are several reasons for the lower turnout; one is the difficulty and inability of citizens in Donetsk and Lugansk regions to vote. We also need to be aware of the fact that previous turnout figures may have been inflated.