About the observation in short

Within the monitoring campaign, OPORA attracts observers in every Ukrainian oblast to the conduction of long- and short-term observation during snap Presidential election, interim Parliamentary elections (district #83), and special local elections. In 2014, the course of election campaign from official start to the announcement of winners will be analyzed by 190 long-term observers. Two thousand of short-term observers will join them on the Election Day (in every round). Besides that, OPORA will deploy 500 short-term observers on May 25 in Kyiv. On the basis of gathered data, OPORA will prepare interim reports on commission activities, nomination of candidates, campaigning, the use of administrative resource, vote count etc. Besides that, the organization will publish results of sample-based parallel vote tabulation (PVT or quick count), which is representative and has small margin of error, in compared to other types of research. The PVT will be conducted during Presidential election and local elections in the capital (election of Kyiv city mayor, and of members to local council by party lists). 

All summaries are based on generally recognized principles and requirements for the organization and conduct of the democratic elections. These standards are represented in the Venice Commission Code of Good Practice in electoral matters, Copenhagen Documents, Commitments for Democratic Elections in OSCE Participating States. 

Ukraine's political situation in electoral context

For the second month in a row, electoral campaign remains less important than other socio-political events in the country. Today, political agenda of the country depends on the threat of military intrusion by the Russian Federation, increasing number of troops on the border with Ukraine and growing hostility of the official rhetoric, as well as further deployment of extremists and separatists in some cities of eastern oblasts of Ukraine. All these hazards can complicate the election process in the certain districts.

The competent government bodies, particularly the CEC, are trying to adequately and operatively overcome the challenges, which appear during organization of the election process in such complicated and unpredictable conditions. Thus, due to the acute "Crimean" situation, the CEC had to announce on April 13, 2014, that it's impossible to create district election commissions for the Presidential election on Crimean territory, occupied by Russian troops. According to the effective legislation, the general result of the elections and their legitimacy don't depend on the districts, where elections were not held. Besides that, due to the seizure of administrative buildings in Donetsk oblast and pressure on officials of local self-government bodies by radical separatists, the CEC has passes a decision to block the access to State Voter Register maintenance bodies in Donetsk oblast. Simultaneously, on 17 April 2014, the Verkhovna Rada failed to include into the agenda the Draft Law #4698 concerning the possibility of holding Presidential elections during the state of emergency or the state of martial law, submitted by A. Kozhemiakin. Thus, this issue remains open.

Presidential candidates understand that while Ukrainian voters are focused on events that are decisive for their country, the excessive use of traditional advertising can have the opposite effect. Besides that, they and have to resort to non-standard methods in such extreme conditions. For example, Yu. Tymoshenko has announced that regional offices of AUU Batkivshchyna will be working as mobilization points for men willing to join territorial defense brigades. She also refrains from outdoor advertising. O. Bohomolets conducts meetings with military men, and called to refuse from political ads on television and donate campaigning budget on stabilization of situation in the country.In fact, rhetoric of other candidates also concerns the complex of topical social and political problems.

Compared to March, the candidates haven't started campaigning more actively in April 2014. However, the election campaign remains slow, irregular, and disproportionate. Similarly to the previous period, the following candidates are most active in their campaigning activities: O. Bohomolets, A. Hrytsenko, M. Dobkin, O. Liashko, P. Poroshenko, Yu. Tymoshenko, O. Tiahnybok, P. Symonenko, S. Tihipko, D. Yarosh. The election campaigning of other candidates remains barely noticeable.

Uncertainty can still be visible in activities of election headquarters, particularly, it hinders their further deployment. Moreover, not all headquarters are fully staffed. Regional headquarters are mostly focused on campaigning tents, printed materials and outdoor advertising. Printed materials are disseminated in small amounts, and mostly in a form of party newspapers. Outdoor advertising (billboards, city-lights) are not widely used by candidates, mostly by Petro Poroshenko and Oleh Liashko. The candidates often use ordered or advertising publications in mass media, often without the corresponding marking, for their campaigning purposes. Besides that, black PR materials often appear in the information space. Nevertheless, the nationwide tendency in Ukraine is that mass media pay little attention to the coverage of election campaign. Taking into consideration the abovementioned facts, we can say that election campaign remains on the minimal level.

However, candidates are paying visits to oblast more often in comparison to the previous month. On the basis of information provided by OPORA's observers, we can make a conclusion that the candidates have focused their campaigning efforts in the central, southern, and eastern oblasts of Ukraine: Presidential candidates have paid 3-6 visits to these oblasts. On the contrary, there were no visits reported to the western oblasts like Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Zakarpattia. Lviv, Chernihiv, and Khmelnytsk oblasts were visited by only one candidate each during the month. Passive campaigning resulted in few violations of electoral legislation, most of which concern the placement of campaign materials in the media without marking "political advertising".

Campaigning activeness of candidates

In the second half of April, 15 Presidential candidates have intensified their election campaign in all oblasts of Ukraine, and 8 candidates didn't conduct any campaigning activities at all, and didn't pay any visits. According to OPORA's assessment, Petro Poroshenko, Oleh Liashko, Yuliia Tymoshenko, Anatolii Hrytsenko, Mykhailo Dobkin, and Oleh Tiahnybok are campaigning in the largest number of oblasts. These candidates are represented in 15-21 oblasts. Olha Bohomolets, Petro Symonenko, Nataliia Korolevska, Renat Kuzmin, Vasyl Kubiida, Dmytro Yarosh, Oleh Tsariov, and Mykola Malomuzh are represented only in some oblasts (1-5). Today, the most popular campaigning means are: outdoor advertising, dissemination of material in tents, placement of campaigning ads in printed mass media, and visits of candidates. The conflict with Russian Federation and separatist movements in eastern oblasts of Ukraine considerably influence the election campaign. On one hand, Yuliia Tymoshenko, Oleh Liashko, Petro Poroshenko, Serhii Tihipko, and Nataliia Korolevska pay special attention to activities of separatists in the certain oblasts. On the other hand, Oleh Tsariov doesn't hide his sympathy to separatists and publicly expresses doubts regarding the expediency of special Presidential election.

Table 1

Scales of campaigning conducted by Presidential candidates in oblasts: on April 25.

Conflicts and public incidents, connected to the election campaign

In April 2014, the biggest hindrances for the election campaign were separatist movements in the certain oblasts of Ukraine (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Zaporizhia). The socio-political situation in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts remains extremely complicated. Despite the fact that the central government has announced the anti-terroristic operation in Sloviansk (Donetsk obl.), the city is still fully controlled by armed separatists. Extremist activities complicate the conduct of election campaigning by candidates for the President of Ukraine, and create obstacles for organization of the election process. Under the pressure of radicals, some city heads and local councils in Donetsk oblast had to agree to negotiations regarding the referendum on the status of the region, and takes decisions in support of this initiative, which are worthless from the legal point of view. It should be mentioned that leaders of separatists have announced that referendums in support of self-proclaimed "people's" republics (Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts) will be conducted on May 11. Taking into consideration these circumstances, the CEC has passes a decision to block the access to State Voter Register maintenance bodies in Donetsk oblast in order to protect personal data of citizens from unlawful use.

Confrontations with the use of force continue to destabilize socio-political situation in the certain oblasts. Local political leaders in Donetsk, who supported the united Ukraine, were abducted and killed. In particular, the Member of Horlivka City Council from AUU Batkivshchyna Volodymyr Rybak, who tried to prevent desecration of state symbols, was tortured to death by extremists. Some Ukrainian journalists, and representatives of OSCE military observation mission were also abducted. Due to these incidents, a large part of the voters are living in fear and threatening, what complicates their attraction to the electoral campaign.

In Luhansk oblast, separatists attacked during campaigning events of some Presidential candidtaes. In cities of Krasnodon and Alchevsk, unknown persons who had presented themselves as "Civil guardsmen of Luhansk oblast", attacked campaigning tents of Anatoliy Hrytsenko. The situation is escalated by confrontations between pro-Ukrainian and separatist events (Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia obl.). Besides that, participants of pro-Russian rallying in Luhansk attacked OPORA's observer, who was taking video of the the protest. However, the most worrying thing is that some candidates openly support the armed forces, which demand to split the country.

Escalation of the situation in eastern oblasts of Ukraine caused the certain aggression towards representatives of political parties who are associated with pro-Russian moods and political programs. In Rivne city, representatives of the Right Sector blocked oblast office of the Communist Party of Ukraine and destroyed Soviet symbols. In Volyn oblast, activists of the Right Sector wrecked the event conducted by secretaries of regional committees of the CPU. In city of Berdychiv (Zhytomyr oblast) unknown people had also attacked office of the CPU. Civil Network OPORA calls all parties of political conflicts to refrain from violence and not to discredit the electoral process by forcible activities. 

The election campaign is accompanied by quite intensive personnel rotations in oblast and raion state administrations (Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytsk, Kirovograd, Lviv, Rivne, Volyn, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhia oblasts). During rotations in local elites, some conflicts appeared. In particular, local organizations of AUU Batkivshchyna and AUU Svoboda have publicly disagreed with the appointment of Mykhailo Shumanskyi as the Head and Yarmolynets Raion State Administration in Khmelnytsk oblast, and announced a protest. The public has ambiguously reacted when heads of election headquarters of the certain candidates were appointed as officials in local government bodies. For example, Liudmyla Shcherbakivska, the leader of regional organization of AUU Batkivshchyna and Head of regional election headquarters of the Presidential candidate Yuliia Tymoshenko, was appointed as the Deputy Head od Vinnytsia Oblast Council. Donetsk Oblast Council has passed a decision on the pre-term dismissal of the Head Andrii Shyshatskyi, what became quite a resonant incident. Simultaneously, the Head of Oblast Council Viktor Mezheiko was suspected by the prosecutor's office in Zaporizhia oblast in organization of mass riots with the use of force (Article 294(1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The official, who has been on a sick leave for three month, was suspected in a criminal offense in the case of forced dispersal of peaceful protesters rallying near Zaporizhia Oblast State Administration in January this year.

During this active stage of election campaigning, representatives of the certain political political forces continue disputes regarding formation of election headquarters. In particular, local organizations of the UDAR and the United Center in Zakarpattia had some disagreements about participation in election campaign of the Presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko. Valerii Patskan, who is the MP and Head of oblast organization of the UDAR party, had announced that he won't cooperate with the leader of the United Center Viktor Baloha, and his political party will work for the victory of Petro Poroshenko by itself. In fact, there are two election headquarters of Presidential candidates Petro Poroshenko in city of Kosiv, Ivano-Frankivsk obalst.

Simultaneously, local organization of the Civic Position party in city of Drohobych (Lviv obl.) refused to support its party leader Anatoliy Hrytsenko during Presidential Election. Local activists have explained such decision by the need to appoint the single candidate for the President of Ukraine from former opposition parties. A number of oblast local organizations of the Party of Regions (Odesa, Rivne oblasts) are still arguing about the nomination of Mykhailo Dobkin on the national party congress.

Activities of district election commissions

From the middle of April, almost all DECs have started functioning in a standard mode, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine on Election of the President of Ukraine, and within the deadline for realization of election procedures. Only in city of Sloviansk (TED #47), which is seized by armed people, functioning of DECs is quite complicated. In Luhansk oblast, law-enforcement agencies and local authorities conducted preventive lectures for members of DECs during meetings of commissions, in order to inform them about threats caused by military aggression of the RF.

The DECs have started their activities with problems, which have already become traditional: the absence of large number if commission members during first meetings and tough situation with material and technical support, which is being gradually improved.  

It was reported that some officials of local self-government bodies and state authorities publicly showed that they support the certain candidates for the President. In particular, the highest local officials of Kirovohrad, Cherkasy, and Rivne oblasts accompanied Oleh Tiahnybok during his meetings with voters. Simultaneously, we've got no information from state employees concerning the pressure upon them in connection to the election campaign.

In connection to the election campaign, different civic initiatives and organizations (Euromaidans, Self-Defenses, Automaidans) remain quite active on local level. Besides their regular activities, they announce about necessity to coordinate their activities in order to secure fair and democratic elections. Their main function is lustration of individuals who aspire to hold positions in executive bodies, and securing civic watchdog over activities of representative local self-government bodies.

The certain violations of campaigning rules were noticed, particularly dissemination of campaign materials without an imprint (or partial imprint). For example, billboards of Oleh Liashko without an imprint were noticed in some western regions of Ukraine.

Activities of district election commissions, rotations in their membership

Almost all DECs, which were created on April 14, have managed to conduct at least 3 meetings. On first meetings of DECs, members have taken an oath, approved the division of responsibilities, and determined which commission members will receive payment for their duties. Besides that, commissions have also appealed to the State Registrar concerning the registration of DECs and legal entities. However, there were some incidents that DECs failed to timely submit the documents for state registration of election commissions, therefore, violated the Article 30¹ of the Law of Ukraine on the Election of the President of Ukraine. These were DEC #85 (centered in city of Tlumach), and #90 (centered in city of Sniatyn).

The attendance on meetings of DECs remains low, but enough for quorum and decision-making (majority of the membership). It should be mentioned, that proxies of candidates don't pay enough attention to meetings of DECs, and were rare guests on their first meetings.

Intensive personnel rotations in district election commissions continue. As of 25 April 2014, the CEC has passed six resolutions on changes in membership of district election commissions[1].
819 members of 4,164 have been already substituted, what is 20% of the total number. The largest number of members were substituted by the following presidential candidates: Nataliia Korolevska – 87 substitutions (41%), Vasyl Tsushko – 81 substitutions (38%) and Vadym Rabinovych – 72 (40%). However, Renat Kuzmin has substituted the largest percentage of commission members representing him – 60% (49 of 82 persons).

All the substitutions were made upon a request submitted by the subject of the election process. These persons were those who cannot participate in meeting because they live in another territorial district or oblast. The fact that citizens of other (often remote) raions and oblasts were included in the commissions means that some candidates provided only technical representation to the commission membership.

In general, rotations in membership of DECs haven’t considerably influenced their activities on this stage. Commission members have taken an oath in majority of 2/3 and, therefore, they are authorized and can take the corresponding decisions. Thus, most commissions have already divided their duties, approved the roster, budget and the number of attracted personnel, and determined supervisors for polling stations. Secretaries, accountants, and system administrators have been already working in most of DECs.

According to the information provided by OPORA's observers, most members of DECs have never worked in district commissions before, what causes the certain complications with organization. Simultaneously, there are no reasons to consider this fact to be a serious obstacle for organization of elections. Besides that, all members of DECs have been specially trained. The CEC have conducted a seminar for managing officials of district commissions on April 22. The seminar was focused on issues related to organization and preparation to the conduct of special Election of the President of Ukraine on 25 May 2014.

However, despite members of DECs have the corresponding experience and knowledge, they do violate the law in their activities. Thus, according to OPORA's observers, the DEC #58 (Donetsk oblast) have violated the procedure of keeping of commission's seal. The seal was kept in the dwelling of Commission Head, but not in safe of the Commission. During meeting of the DEC #11 (Vinnytsia city), the Commission ruled that individuals who were not invited, i.e. observers and journalists, are not allowed to enter the meeting of DEC after it was started. Such decision is explained in corresponding resolution of the DEC by the fact that members of election commissions are obliged not only to "take measures to secure unobstructed activities of individuals who are allowed to attend commission meetings without permission or invitation", but also to "control the fulfillment of requirements for limitation of activities of individuals who are allowed to attend commission meetings without permission or invitation, and their adherence to the Article 28(9, 10, 11) of the Law of Ukraine on Election of the President of Ukraine". Such arbitrary interpretation of the Law limits to the certain extent the rights of observers as subjects of the election process, and is contrary to the Article 28(11) of the Law, according to which, official observers may be deprived of the right to be present during commission meetings only if they unlawfully obstruct the conduction of meeting.

Today, the DECs have considered applications submitted by local executive bodies on the creation of temporary special polling stations, and created the corresponding polling stations.  Today, the submission of candidates for membership of DECs continues (till May 1).

Material and technical support in most of DECs remains unsatisfactory (there's shortage of equipment, stands, plates), but it is being constantly improved.

Table Rotations in membership of DECs

Officials' participation in the election campaign

The government's intrusion in the election process wasn't noticed, as well as the abuse of administrative resources in favor of the certain candidates or parties. However, officials were often participating in campaigning events of the certain candidates. Thus, the Deputy Head of Cherkasy OSA Yurii Botnar (Head of Oblast office of AUU Svoboda) accompanied Presidential candidate Oleh Tiahnybok during meetings with voters in city of Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi (district #199, centered in city of Horodyshche) and city of Kamianka (district #201, centered in city of Smila). Besides that, he collected orders of Oleh Tiahnybok concerning the solution of problems aired by event participants. The Head of Kirovohrad OSA Oleksandr Petik was apso present during the meeting with voters, held by the candidate Oleh Tiahnybok (TED #100). In Rivne oblast, Mr. Tiahnybok was accompanied by newly-appointed Head of Rivne OSA Oleksii Buchynskyi, who is the member of AUU Svoboda.

Violation of campaigning rules

For the last two weeks, campaign materials of Presidential candidates have been actively disseminated, and some violations of campaigning rules were reported. For example, campaigning stickers of Yuliia Tymoshenko were placed on announcement board in Slavuta RSA, Raion and City Councils (Khmelnytsk oblast, TED #195). OPORA's observers have noticed newspapers "Vremia Rehionov Kharkovshchyny" with pictures of Mykhailo Dobkin on the front page in the Administration of Kharkiv City Council in Moskovskyi district, where the DEC of TED #172 is located.

Campaigning materials without any information about the printing house, client, and number of printed copies are more and more often disseminated. In election district #89 (centered in city of Kolomyia), information placards were disseminated on behalf of headquarters of Dmytro Yarosh, calling to support the candidate and join his headquarters as members of PECs, observers, and campaigners. In city of Koroshtyshiv, (ED #67, city of Malyn) a billboard without an imprint was placed, containing symbols of AUU Svoboda and picture of Oleh Tiahnybok. In TED #64 (city of Berdychiv), OPORA's observers noticed campaigning materials without an imprint. Campaigning leaflets in support of Petro Symonenko were disseminated in city of Chudniv, and a billboard in support of Oleh Liashko was placed in city of Berdychiv. In both instances, the Article 59 (3) of the Law of Ukraine on Election of the President of Ukraine was violated, because campaign materials were without an imprint. In general, campaigning billboards without an imprint in support of Liashko were noticed in Vinnytsia, Rivne, and Kirovohrad oblasts.

While the socio-political situation in unstable due to the military aggression of the RF, campaigning becomes more radical and is often accompanied by extremist calls and manifestation of intolerance, what may cause social conflicts and violence. Thus, Oleh Liashko's billboards with a slogan "Death to occupants!" are being actively spread in Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, and Ternopil oblasts. On April 13, Presidential candidate Oleh Tsariov took the floor on separatist pro-Russian meeting in Kharkiv in support of Ukraine's federalization. Such activities may be considered as campaigning, which is accompanied by calls to the forceful change of constitutional system, violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, and is prohibited by the Article 64(3) of the Article on Election of the President of Ukraine. In Luhansk, Krasnodon, Rubihne, Sverdlovsk, and Alchevsk, activists and representatives of pro-Russian organizations call the citizens in the internet not to recognize the special elections, and counteract the voting process. Such actions are aimed to disrupt and destabilize the electoral process. Thus, law-enforcement agencies should urgently take the corresponding measures.

Campaigning materials are being more often damaged and destructed. Billboards of Presidential candidate Mykhailo Dobkin were splashed with whitewash and cut in city of Novovolynsk (TED #19), and splashed with paint in city of Pyriatyn of Poltava oblast. Besides that, in cities of Melitopol and Zaporizhia, Oleh Liashko's billboards were splashed with paint. 

Obstruction to political activities of the candidate and parties

Conduction of campaigning activities in eastern oblasts of Ukraine is quite complicated for candidates. Most candidates have faced conflicts, incidents, and artificial restrictions during their campaigning events in these oblasts. Thus, a candidate for the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko was blocked in the airport by pro-Russian activists when he came to Luhansk (he could pass only after police officers interfered); during his meetings with voters in the Taras Shevchenko National University of Luhansk, the light was turned off. At the same time, candidates who represented or represent the Party of Regions, and representatives of the Communist Party of Ukraine face difficulties with election campaigning in central, western, and some southern oblasts of Ukraine. In Kyiv, the CPU's office was set on fire, some property, computers, and accounting documents were destroyed. Presidential candidates Mykhailo Dobkin and Oleh Tsariov have received light bodily injuries during their meetings with voters. Activists of the Right Sector in Rivne sealed the office of the CPU after they made workers leave the premises.  

Activities of mass media in the election process

Local and regional mass media are barely covering the election process, and focused only on the general context and placement of campaigning materials. Materials related to the Presidential campaign often appear after regional visits of candidates, usually together with political advertising in local media. Besides that, mass media disseminated formal announcements about the formation of election commissions, their qualitative composition and membership. Attention of mass media is mostly focused on south-eastern oblasts of Ukraine. The problem of political advertising without the corresponding marking published in printed mass media, or in the block where commercial and social ads are placed. Similar incidents have occurred in Kirovohrad and Zhytomyr oblasts. In general, the coverage of election activities is quite balanced.

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 electoral violations through comprehensive civic action. From a strategic perspective, the observation is focuses on improvement of the election system and certain procedures. Thus, the organization actively participates in the preparation and discussion of amendments to the election legislation.