The election campaign has started in Donetsk oblast, but 10 communities will not participate

On 29-30 November, experts of the OPORA and Donetsk Oblast Cell of the AUNGO Committee of Voters of Ukraine, who are staying in Donetsk oblast and organize civic observation, will provide the latest information about the course of election day in Mariupol and Krasnoarmiisk.

Civil Network OPORA hasn't noticed any gross violations of electoral legislation committed by electoral subjects in Mariupol and Krasnoarmiisk, what is a good precondition for free voting on 29 November. Voters in Krasnoarmiisk and Mariupol will have quite a wide choice of mayoral candidates – 20 and 22 candidates respectively. Overpolitization of territorial election commissions and strong mutual distrust between the electoral subjects remain the worst hazards for the election process.

    The problem of securing voting rights for over 1 mln eligible to vote IDPs of around 1.5 IDPs from Donetsk, Luhansk oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is still not solved. Unfortunately, lawmakers have ignored this issue in the new Law on Local Elections. NGO activists, MPs of Ukraine and representatives of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights have discussed possible ways of solution on a roundtable titled “Elections as an integration mechanism: how to guarantee...

Occupation of Crimea and military conflict in Eastern Ukraine made 1.5 million people move to other regions of the country. At the same time, Ukrainian Parliament ignores IDPs' right to vote in local elections. The public demands that Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and leaders of parliamentary factions urgently regulate voting rights of internally displaced persons. Draft Law #2501а-1, jointly developed by experts and MPs, should be included in the agenda and adopted.

Russian military aggression has significantly influenced the election administration in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and deprived more than 4 million Ukrainian citizens of their right to freely choose the President, and more than 3 million citizens of their right to choose MPs of Ukraine in 2014. Experts emphasize that it's urgent to improve the effective laws on local elections and MCA, and establish a special mechanism allowing to ascertain at any stage of the election process that it&...

According to the State Register of Voters[1] Donetsk oblast is the largest one by the number of voters in Ukraine (3 million 327 thousand 70 voters). Lugansk oblast by the number of voters takes the 7th place among 27 regions of Ukraine (1 million 784 thousand 936 voters), giving up only to Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk oblasts, Kyiv city, Kharkiv, Lviv and Odesa oblasts.

AT 11:00 AM on 29 October, the military took equipment and documentation from the District Election Commission #52, located in the city of Dzherzhynsk, and left in an unknown direction. Some commission members went with the military. Such information was reported by observers of the Donetsk Oblast Office of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine and the Civil Network OPORA.

In district #50 (Donetsk oblast, centered in the city of Krasnoarmiisk), abnormal turnout was reported at some polling stations. An extremely high voter turnout was noticed at some PECs in the city of Dymytriv. 

The voting in single-mandate district was considered void at a polling station #140232, located in the village of Novotroitske (Dobropillia raion). Commission members had put the stamp "Removed" against a name of candidate who didn't removed his candidacy. Observers of a joint monitoring campaign of the Donetsk Office of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine and Civic Network OPORA reported about this violation.