Preliminary findings of CVU of the Election Day

Oleksii Koshel, Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU), stated today at a press briefing at 16:00 that CVU recorded four cases of unidentified exit pollers outside polling stations. “This conduct of unofficial exit polling is prohibited by law”, said Koshel. He added that there have been some cases recorded of individuals trying to take ballot papers beyond the premises of the polling station, which is also prohibited.

According to Denis Rybachok, CVU analyst, the number of cases of photos being taken of filled in ballots has increased significantly from the last election and has become a large scale problem. However, in some cases photographing of the polling stations, which is allowed, was prohibited. Koshel also said that “there is a need to start precedent cases against officials that incorrectly interpret the law.”

CVU also reported inaccuracies of voter lists with cases of names of voters missing on lists or and voters appearing on several voter lists.

The use of unapproved identification documents by voters has also been reported to be especially prevalent in rural areas and villages, with foreign passports and student ID cards being used instead of approved documents such as Ukrainian national passports, military ID cards, and temporary citizen cards. “We have received dozens of calls on our hotlines regarding the appropriate documents that can be used to vote”, said Koshel.

“Our observers have reported that in some cases voting was delayed by the actions of members of the election commission, which means that votes have been lost”, said Koshel.

Positive trends of this election: record breaking numbers of international election observers, with 239 organizations sending representatives to the election.