Elections of People's Deputies in two Constituencies in Cherkasy and Kherson Oblasts: Competitive, but with Misuse of Administrative Resources

On September 1, the election process started for the by-elections of people's deputies of Ukraine in constituencies No. 184 (Kherson region) and No. 197 (Cherkasy region). The elections are scheduled for October 31, 2021, and will have to take place because in the 2020 local elections a people's deputy Ihor Kolykhayev won as mayor of Kherson and an MP Olexandr Skichko was appointed as head of the Cherkasy Regional State Administration.

On September 1, the election process started for the by-elections of the People's Deputy in constituencies No.184 (with a center in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region) and No.197 (with a center in Zolotonosha, Cherkasy region). OPORA observers have registered the actual start of the early campaign by potential candidates in the constituencies. In particular, in August, the activity of 12 potential candidates was recorded: 9 – in a single-member constituency 197, and 3 – in a single-member constitu...

On May 19, the CEC decided to implement the Resolution of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court of Ukraine to cancel its protocol on the results of the by-elections of the People's Deputy of Ukraine, and drew up a new protocol. The winner of the election was Vasyl Virastiuk ("Servant of the People" party), who received 14,811 votes. According to the new protocol, the candidate from the "For the Future" party, Oleksandr Shevchenko, won 13,942 votes.

OPORA hereby states the failure to ensure the right of voters for lawful and fair establishment of their voting results in a single-member constituency No 87 at elections of a people’s deputy of Ukraine.

The situation with the establishment of voting results at the interim elections of people’s deputies in constituency 87 has stirred much of public interest. In fact, the district commission sent back for the re-count 20 election commissions; the voting results at two polling stations were declared invalid; the incompliance was identified between the protocol data and the re-count outcomes at three polling stations; at one polling station with several dozens of missing ballots the decision has...

Civil Network OPORA administered a comprehensive independent observation over the course of interim elections of people’s deputies in constituencies No 50 (Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast), and No 87 (Nadvirna, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast). We focused on the legality of procedures, competitiveness of the campaign, and its compliance with the international democratic standards. On the election day, March, 28, OPORA ran a short-term observation that included the registration of violations and abuse, and th...

Following the non-partisan observation at the interim elections of people’s deputies of Ukraine in constituencies No 50 and No 87, OPORA hereby states the violation of the political neutrality principle in candidates’ favour on the part of public administration.

The process of establishing precinct election commissions was running under the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Elections of People’s Deputies of Ukraine” valid in part of the organization of the preparation and conduct of interim elections of people’s deputies of Ukraine. The total number of precinct election commissions established at the interim elections of the people’s deputies of Ukraine in constituencies No 50 and No 87 is 229, of which 112 account for Donetsk region, and 117 have...

The fact of scheduling interim elections by the Central Election Commission in constituency 208 with the delayed publication of the decision in national media contains elements of free interpretation of electoral law and contradicts the previous election scheduling practices.