At night of 29 October, all the observers present at the DEC meeting could see how, right at the meeting, Head of the precinct election commission No.480271 (Anetivka of Domanivka Raion) rewrote the protocol. Similar cases could have been observed many times.
Mostly, members of PECs, who brought the ballots properly packed, had the protocols packed not separately, and with some figures being crossed out in them. Also, they had blank protocol forms, signed by all members of precinct commissions and stamped. When an observer asked, “Are you committing fraud now?” This is a violation!“, the answer was, “Not at all! The cause of our violation was not a fraud attempt but inattention of the commission members — they confused the rows where one should put the number of ballots which are not subject to counting, with the number of invalid ballots.”
Moreover, as of 11am, all members of PECs who have stayed to submit protocols, couldn't stand the stress of staying in front of the DEC from midnight until noon, declared a boycott to Head of the DEC Anatolii Vyshnevskyi, and started chanting “Shame!” and whistling. Head of the commission responded to it immediately and left the meeting room leaving Secretary of the Commission Liudmyla Rybakova to announce the protocols. However, members of PECs didn't stop there, and in response to the fact that they were kept in the building for so long, nobody listening to their suggestions or recommendations, all together tried to disrupt the meeting, and left the meeting in room in protest. However, the meeting still continues, and members of the PECs are slowly returning to the room.
Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA - is a type of network activity, aimed at impartial assessment of the preparation and conduct of elections, as well as preventing violations through comprehensive civic action. Professional monitoring at all stages of the election process indirectly influences the quality of the campaign. The public opinion, both foreign and domestic is formed through gathering and spreading of information among the target audience.
From a strategic perspective public monitoring of elections focuses upon improving the system and certain procedures.
In 2012, during Parliamentary elections in Ukraine OPORA is carrying out a large-scale campaign of long- and short term observation, organizing a statistical vote-count by the results of voting with the proportional component of the electoral system on a basis of representative selection, will provide 100% coverage of polling stations by observers in separate single-mandate majoritarian districts. OPORA observers will work in all 225 electoral districts, and 3,500 activists will join them on the voting day. Organization will use the latest means of spreading information on observation results, including infographics and interactive maps.