On June 2, special elections of village, town and city heads are to be held. These elections were scheduled by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on March 21. Today, Civil Network OPORA is conducting civic observation and parallel vote tabulation during special elections of Vasylkiv (Kyiv oblast) and Berehove (Zakarpattia oblast) City Mayors. Civil Network OPORA is planning to actively inform mass media and the public about the course of elections in these cities.
In Vasylkiv Kyiv oblastspecial elections are called because of the former City Mayor Sehii Ivashchenko has prematurely terminated his powers. In October 2012, Vasylkiv City Council had terminated authority of Mr. Ivashchenko on the basis of his resignation.
Elections in Vasylkiv were widely discussed on both national and local levels. Factions in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine even had to find a compromise on calling elections in this city.
Vasylkivsk City Election Commission has registered 29 candidates for city mayor, but some of them removed their candidacies later. Electoral process in Vasylkiv was accompanied by problematic registration of candidates, formation of precinct election commissions, and the course of election campaign. Acute conflicts between candidates or their activists often appeared. According to OPORA observers, the most active election campaigns in Vasylkiv were conducted by candidates from the Party of Regions, UDAR, the Unity Party, and Cossacks Party.
There are 33,588 voters in Vasylkiv city. Authorities created 17 regular polling stations and 1 special on the territory of Vasylkiv Central Rayon Hospital.
Special elections in Berehovo are called because the former City Mayor Ishtvan Haidosh was elected as Member of Parliament. Haidosh was elected to the Parliament by the party list of the Party of Regions.
Three other candidates for City Mayor position are representatives of the following parties: Democratic Party of Hungarians of Ukraine (its candidate is supported by the Party of Regions), AUU Svoboda, UDAR, People's Party, Communist Party, United Centre, KMKS-Party of Hungarians of Ukraine, Socialist party of Ukraine, Union Party, and SDPU (u).
13 polling stations were created in Berehovo. According to the preliminary list, number of voters in the city is 19,753.
OPORA's observers will watch the election process in all the polling stations and territorial election commissions of both cities. In particular, 13 activists will be present in Berehovo city, and 18 in Vasylkiv. Mobile groups will operatively gather information about possible violations and inform the media about the course of elections. OPORA will also conduct parallel vote tabulation – an observation method, which allows gathering information about voter turnout and election results.
Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA - is a type of network activity, aimed at impartial assessment of the elections, as well as preventing violations through comprehensive civic action.
Andrii Tokarskyi, OPORA's observation coordinator in VAsylkiv city at: +380636179693