Mid-day Summary of Ukrainian Presidential Elections

Kyiv, 25th May, 2014

This is a summary report of three election observation missions from the Ukrainian NGO Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU), OPORA Network, and the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE), which together have almost 6,000 observers in all Ukrainian regions.

E-Day in Ukraine:
• In most regions, voting is proceeding with no major violations, such as ballot stuffing, voting in collusion with the commission, intimidation, or bribery of voters have been reported (EPDE).
• Some minor violations such as delays in opening of polling stations, broken seals on safes containing ballots, and lack of security have been reported (OPORA).
• Voter turnout in Kiev seems high (EPDE).

Donetsk and Luhansk:
• Only 2 out 12 territorial election districts in Luhansk and 7 of 22 territorial election districts in Donetsk were operational in the morning (OPORA).
• Several polling places have been forced to close after opening or had no ballot (OPORA)
• Major violations have occurred, including intimidation, abductions of election commission members, and forcible closing of polling stations (OPORA).
• More polling stations of Donetsk region began their work midday, as they finally received ballot papers and/or voters lists (CVU).
• By 3:00pm, voter turnout in the Donetsk region was 13.7% (CVU and OPORA).

Troubles continue throughout the day (CVU and OPORA):
• Unknown individuals smashed windows at a polling station and stole all the ballots in the village Metalist, Amrosiyivskiy district
• According to witnesses, representatives of Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) broke into the voting room and blocked work of the electoral commission. They demanded an end to the voting, insisting that the elections are illegal. Gunmen took with them all 1,308 ballots.