EPDE supported its Ukrainian members Committee of Voters of Ukraine CVU and the Civil Network OPORA and conducted election observation of the recent Presidential elections in Ukraine on 25 May 2014.
See here for news and reports of the EPDE members:
COMMITTEE OF VOTERS OF UKRAINE (CVU): PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF VOTING AND VOTE TABULATION FOR THE EARLY PRESIDENTIAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS IN UKRAINE ON MAY 25, 2014
SUMMARY
At most polling stations (more than 90%) the Presidential Elections were held without substantial violations of electoral legislation and in accordance with international standards of fair and transparent elections.
In problematic regions (Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts) voting was held with violation of international standards of fair and transparent elections. Terrorist groups disrupted the elections at most polling stations. Law enforcement bodies, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Security Service of Ukraine, did not provide adequate security during transportation of election documents and did not ensure the personal security of election commission members and voters. As soon as it was determined that conducting elections in these regions was life-threatening to citizens, elections were stopped.
CVU Interim Reports on Presidential and Local Elections
Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU) is a non-governmental civic organization that monitors election processes in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the Presidential campaign, 150 CVU long-term observers have been working in regions across Ukraine.
Presidential Elections - Interim Report Summary PDF (EN)
Committee of voters of Ukraine is a non-governmental civic organization which monitors the May 25 elections of the President of Ukraine. On the Election Day 3000 CVU observers work on polling stations.
As a whole, the elections proceeded according to the established procedures. Elections may be qualified as free and transparent, despite cases of violations and organizational difficulties, particualrly in districts where simultaneous presidential and local elections were held. There are only individual cases of serious violations of election procedures. The violations are not systematic.
On 25 May, OPORA organized parallel vote tabulation, based on a representative and statistically-based sample. The sample included 1,500 polls, with a 2.9% margin of error.
OPORA's accredited and specially-trained observers analyzed the election process from 07:15 until the completion of vote tabulation at the polling stations. In conclusion, they sent 9 reports to OPORA's call-center, concerning
Committee of voters of Ukraine is a non-governmental civic organization which monitors the May 25 elections of the President of Ukraine. On the Election Day 3000 CVU observers work on polling stations.
As a whole, the elections are progressing according to the established procedures. Elections may be qualified as free and transparent, despite cases of violations and organizational difficulties, especially in districts where simultaneous presidential and local elections are held.
There are only individual cases of serious violations of election procedures, the violations are not systematic. Individual cases of violations or problems were recorded, such as:
CIVIL NETWORK OPORA: Voter turnout at the extraordinary Presidential elections as of 12:00 PM constitutes 25% of all voters.
According to the data of the Civil Network OPORA, the voter turnout at the extraordinary Presidential elections as of 12:00 PM constitutes 25% of all voters. As of 12:00 PM the voter turnout at the extraordinary Presidential elections in Ukraine is 25%. Namely, in central oblasts the turnout is 27%, in the West it constitutes 25%, in the East and South 22%. (The statistical error of 3% is taken into account.)
Throughout the Election Day, OPORA plans to inform the media and the public about the results of the parallel turnout tabulation.
CIVIL NETWORK OPORA: Rapid Press Brief: the voting in Ukraine has begun with a calm atmosphere. Only Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts are unstable.
The atmosphere during conduction of preparatory meetings in precinct election commissions and the beginning of voting has been calm, without mass violations of election procedures. Major interruptions are happening only in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, where most election commissions are not functioning at all and voting is mostly not being conducted. In general, there are still serious complications with securing proper voting conditions for the voters in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
According to the preliminary data, the voting began in 7 of 22 territorial election districts in Donetsk oblast. There are documented incidents of terroristic attacks against individual polling stations. In district #61, armed criminals seized precinct election commissions #140796, 140792, 140803, and 140800 (city of Dokuchaevsk). Unlawful activities aimed to hinder the electoral process are still occurring. In addition, the PEC #140061 was seized the village of Kalinino (Artemivsk raion, TED #46), where intruders threatened OPORA's observers.
In Luhansk oblast, the voting has started in only 2 of the 12 territorial election districts. According to OPORA's observers, separatists have strengthened their control over roads in the oblast, directing traffic and hindering the election process. Simultaneously, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Mykolajiw has received the information that 7 polling stations were mined. Law-enforcement officers are still verifying that information.
CVU and OPORA Breaking News: report from civil society observation mission in Ukraine
Troubles in Donetsk:
By 3:00pm, voter turnout in the Donetsk region was 13.7%
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 1308 ballots.
Also, according to the DEC № 62 commission lost contact with 52 of the 82 polling stations operating in the constituency. Because of this members of the commission cannot figure out turnout at these polling stations.
As reported earlier today in Dokuchaevsk, representatives of DNR blocked the work of all district commissions.
24 May 2014
Golos observers arrived in Ukraine. Russian and Ukrainian Election Observers unite in solidarity to observe presidential elections in Ukraine 25 May.
The Russian citizens’ observers will contribute to the overall international monitoring of these important elections for Ukraine and Europe. All members of the mission have experience from monitoring elections in Russia on behalf of the renowned Russian election watchdog organization Golos. The Russian citizens’ observers complement the work of the prominent Ukrainian election observation organizations OPORA and Committee of Voters of Ukraine, who already have 6000 domestic observers in activity all over the country. The Ukrainian and Russian NGOs are both members of the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE).
“This mission is an extraordinary signal of solidarity between Russian and Ukrainian citizens”, says Lilia Shibanova, Director Golos –“It underscores the citizens’ will to stand together for peace and democracy in both countries”.
850 Russian volunteers have expressed their readiness to observe these elections in partnership with their Ukrainian colleagues. Due to a protracted process of obtaining accreditation from Ukrainian authorities, this mission has been dramatically reduced in numbers so that tomorrow a smaller group of round 150 Russian volunteers will meet their Ukrainian counterparts in 8 out of 25 oblasts.
The observation mission is financially supported by the Open Russia Foundation of Mikhail Khodorkovski, the European Commission and the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation.
The mission will follow international standards for election observation with the aim to support free and fair elections in Ukraine.
On 26 May 2014, at 11:30am, in the UNIAN Information Agency (4 Khreshatyk St.), the press-conference titled "Presidential Election: Summary of observation conducted by OPORA" will be held by the Civil Network OPORA.
On the day after the election day, OPORA will promulgate the voter turnout and results of voting during special elections of the President, based on the quick count results, conducted by the OPORA.
Thanks to 2,000 observers, deployed in all Ukrainian oblasts, OPORA's representatives will be able to present monitoring results, particularly information about violations on polling stations. Besides that, activists will analyze activities of state bodies and institutions, responsible for the organization of elections, during the voting process, tabulation and processing of votes.
Olha Aivazovska, Electoral and Parliamentary Programs Coordinator of the Civil Network OPORA;
Oleksandr Kliuzhev, OPORA's analyst;
Oleksandr Neberykut, OPORA's analyst.
Journalist registration is conducted on-the-spot by press accreditations.
Detailed information: Tetiana Kyrylenko, press-secretary of the OPORA, +380509793596
On the Eve of the Presidential Election: Summary from OPORA
Observers of Civil Network OPORA have examined how Presidential candidates were campaigning in all 213l election districts. Today, activities of armed separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts remain the key destabilizing factor for the election process. Systematic activities of unlawful units in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts may cause disruption of the voting process in half of the districts in these regions. There are no conflicts or violations in other oblasts that may hinder free voting process.
According to the observation results, the following Presidential candidates had the largest-scale election campaigns, respectively: 1. Petro Poroshenko, 2. Yuliia Tymoshenko, 3. Anatolii Hrytsenko, 4. OlehTiahnybok, 5. Oleh Liashko. These rankings are based on how the candidates covered election districts with their campaigning and assess the scale of election campaigning conducted by every Presidential candidate.
According to OPORA's monitoring results, the most popular type of campaigning during the snap Presidential Election was media campaigning (publications, announcements, public addresses, and information materials in local media). The most active in this type of campaigning was Yuliia Tymoshenko. The second popular type is outdoor advertising, which was most often used by Petro Poroshenko. Direct campaigning (door-to-door campaigning, collection of signatures, correspondence, meetings) was the least used method by all candidates during these elections. Street campaigning (rallies, marches, demonstrations, pickets; campaigning tents; dissemination of printed campaign materials; concerts, exhibitions, sport competitions, film shows etc.) is the third popular type of campaigning. It was most often used by Yuliia Tymoshenko.
The most powerful network of election headquarters wascreated by YuliiaTymoshenko, Petro Poroshenko, AnatoliiHrytsenko, OlehTiahnybok, and Oleh Liashko. Andrii Hrynenko, Volodymyr Saranov, Vasyl Tsushko, Vadym Rabinovych, and Renat Kuzmin have few temporary organizational structures in individual districts.
Besides intensification of campaigning activities on this final stage of election campaign, incidents of unlawful campaigning and other abuses committed by candidates also become more frequent. Almost in all regions of Ukraine, observers report about surge of "dirty campaigning" (printed materials and content in social networks), directed mostly on Yuliia Tymoshenko and Petro Poroshenko. Dissemination of campaigning materials without an imprint, and their placement in prohibited locations became typical incidents. Dissemination of so-called "dzhynsa" (hidden advertising) – political ads in printed mass media without the corresponding marking, under the mask of news – has also become more prominent.
Ukraineis facingsuch a large-scale counteraction to free voting for the first time itshistory as an independent country. The "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic", which were determined by the Prosecutor General's Office as terroristic organizations, commit crimes against electoral rights of citizens. Members of election commissions, as well as premises, property, and equipment of the corresponding commissions, have becomethe target for the terrorists. Due to the intensive dislocation of terroristic groups on the territory of these oblasts, it is difficult to tell how many voters may be deprived of the right to vote.
District election commissions have, in general, qualitatively fulfilled their duties. However, they faced the certain complications during the formation of PECs and during personnel rotations in commissions. The situation was even more complicated by the fact that DECs themselves were undergoing mass rotations. As of 20 May, more than a third (36%) of membership in DECs was substituted. Manycommission members chosen by candidates, who de facto stopped participating in the election campaign (particularly Petro Symonenko), are in fact sabotaging theactivities of election commissions. Rotations in precinct election commissions haveappeared because candidates’ headquarters failed to secure the qualitative organization of the selection and preparation of commission members. In addition, several commission members in eastern oblasts of Ukraine refuse to fulfill their duties because they are threatened and under physical pressure frompro-Russian terroristic groups. Another common reason for high turnover in commission membership across Ukraine is that proxies of candidates submitted documents to nominateindividuals for commission membership without their permission, or nominated the names of individuals who do not exist(so-called "dead souls").
In order to assess the quality of the election process with a minimal margin of error and to forecast maximally accurate election results, OPORA will apply the statistically-based quick count. Quick count techniques include stationary observation during the voting and counting process at the polling station, chosen by random sampling. On 26 May, the day after the voting process, at 11:30am in the UNIAN Information Agency, OPORA will promulgate the results of its parallel vote tabulation (quick count).
Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA is a type of network activity aimed to carry out impartial assessment of the preparation and conduct of elections and to prevent electoral violations through comprehensive civic action. Since March, OPORA has been conductinga wide observation campaign during snap Presidential election, interim Parliamentary elections (district #83), and special local elections. The organization cooperates with 175 long-term observers who watch the course of election campaign in all Ukrainian regions. On the Election Day, 25 May 2014, 3,000 activists will join them to conduct the parallel vote tabulation, based on statistical sample.
For comment, please contact:
Olha Aivazovska,
Electoral and Parliamentary Programs Coordinator of the Civil Network OPORA
On the eve of the election day: OPORA presents preliminary results of electoral observation
On 23 May 2014, at 10:30am in the UNIAN Information Agency (4 Khreshatyk St.), the press-conference titled "On the eve of the election day: OPORA presents preliminary results of electoral observation" will be held by the Civil Network OPORA.
On the eve of the Presidential election, OPORA presents preliminary summary of election monitoring campaign. In particular, the organization will report on complications in functioning of election commissions, as well as violations and abuses, committed by participants of the election process, such as abuse of administrative resource, unlawful campaigning etc., which were detected by observers during the electoral process. Besides that, experts tell whether the polling stations are ready to conduct the voting process, and air their forecasts on the course of the election day. Information about the observation campaign in detail, including activities of short-term observers on May 25, will be presented by:
Olha Aivazovska, Electoral and Parliamentary Programs Coordinator of the Civil Network OPORA;
Oleksandr Kliuzhev, OPORA's analyst;
Oleksandr Neberykut, OPORA's analyst.
Journalist registration is conducted on-the-spot by press accreditations.
Detailed information:
Tetiana Kyrylenko, press-secretary of the OPORA, +380509793596
20th May 2014
Today, the EPDE's Ukrainian member Civil Network OPORA holds a press-conference titled "Vinnytsia oblast: five days before the election day".
During the press-conference, Regional Coordinator of the Civil Network OPORA in Vinnytsia oblast Nataliia Velychko will tell about the course of Presidential race in Vinnytsia oblast in the context of national situation, and present interim results of long-term observation conducted by OPORA.
EPDE's Ukrainian member Civil Network OPORA launched a mobile application for Android "Elections - manual for observers". Now, every owner of a smartphone, tablet, smartbook or netbook on Android will have a user-friendly instrument of a qualified observer and active voter.
EPDE's Ukrainian member Civil Network OPORA published its Report on the creation of precinct election commissions during snap election of the President of Ukraine on May 25, 2014.
EPDE's Ukrainian member Committee of Voters of Ukraine CVU has published its report on results of its long-term monitoring of preparation for early Presidential elections in Ukraine during April, 18 – May, 8 2014.
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