Peculiarities of electoral campaign in 5 problematic districts: record-breaking number of candidates in districts #223 (66) and #94 (82), and a lot of candidates with identical names in 4 of 5 districts. Such information was promulgated by activists of the Civil Network OPORA during a press-conference held on November 18. They have also presented an interim report on the results of election observation campaign started a month ago to watch re-election in 5 problematic districts #94, 132, 194, 197, and 223.
The election campaign in 5 problematic districts is halfway to the end, and there were no considerable or systematic violations committed by representatives of government bodies or candidates, which may influence the election results. In 4 of 5 electoral districts, self-nominated candidates or representatives of the party in power, which were the second to receive parliamentary mandates during the previous elections, didn't submit their documents to the CEC.
As of November 17, the CEC has registered 189 candidates for MPs of Ukraine. This number considerably exceeds the largest number of majoritarian candidates within a district (48 persons), registered during regular 2012 Parliamentary elections in district #95 (Irpin city, Kyiv oblast). The average number of candidates in districts was 14 persons in 2012, and during re-election the average number is 38. In result, the expected amount of state financing for election campaigning may increase.
In ED #223, besides Yurii Levchenko nominated by AUU Svoboda, two more candidates named Yurii Levchenko submitted their documents for the registration. Besides that, leader of the Kyiany Peredusim movement Viktor Pylypyshyn (self-nominated) and his double, have submitted documents to the CEC on the last day of registration. In ED #94, there are two doubles of the candidate Viktor Romaniuk, nominated by AUU Batkivshchyna, and some doubles of well-known politicians, which were considered to be potential candidates during re-election in 2013: two candidates with name Serhii Vlasenko and one Ostap Semerak.
As long as there are many candidates-doubles, election commissions may face the certain difficulties in case candidates start voluntary removing their candidacies. Therefore, stamps “Removed” will have to be put in the bulletins opposite to the name of every removed candidate, what may result in errors and a lot of spoiled ballot papers. Besides that, the voters may be misled if they don't know which role such candidates-doubles play in the election process. In fact, candidates-doubles in Ukraine may stole up to 3% of votes from real candidates.
Thanks to a new procedure of drawing lots, parties are represented in district election commissions better, in comparison to regular parliamentary elections. During the re-election, 86% of parties (36 of 42), which participated in the draw, received their representation in DECs, while only 19 of 81 parties (23%) were represented in DECs in 2012.
Rotations in membership of DECs are one more urgent problem. As of November 8, 2013 45 members of DECs (50% of the membership) were substituted by parties which are subjects of the election process. Memberships of DECs #132 and #194 were substituted for 78%; DEC #94 - 44%; DEC #223 - for 39%; and only 11% of membership was substituted in the DEC #197. If this tendency will be preserved, the number of substitutions will exceed the unprecedented amount of rotations in 2012 - 60%. Besides that, as long as the CEC has already conducted trainings for members of DECs, all these substitutions will decrease the average training level and negatively affect the quality of electoral process.
OPORA's activists emphasize, that the voters are groundlessly deprived of their right to see tax declarations of candidates, despite they had such possibility during elections in 2012. The absence of mandatory submission of tax declarations when registering is contrary to the principle of openness and transparency of the election process, declared in the Law of Ukraine on Elections of People's Deputies.
Civil Network OPORA is conducting a large-scale monitoring campaign in 5 problematic districts, which includes long- and short-term observation. The organization will attract more than 600 activists to conduct the parallel vote tabulation and qualitative observation during the election day. OPORA will systematically inform the public about the course of election campaign, as well as whether subjects of the election process observe the electoral legislation, officials participate in the race, and all the interested parties adhere to generally recognized international standards. The organization is also planning to secure on-line broadcasting from the DECs during receipt of protocols of precinct election commissions. Civic observation is aimed to prevent violations and abuses during the vote count process.