In Dnipropetrovsk at district #25 work of the journalist of the Tochka OPORY newspaper was obstructed

At the polling station #121183, district #25, the work of Vadym Holovchenko, corresponded of the Tochka OPORY newspaper, was obstructed: he was not allowed to fulfill his editorial task and to make photo and video recording at the polling station.

Head of the commission D.O. Kharmat was forbidding him to make photo and video recording, referring to the fact that it is prohibited by the effective legislation.

It is worth underlying that the observers and correspondents repeatedly face the situations when the commission members are not familiar with the legal norms of electoral legislation.

According to the Law of Ukraine on Election of the President of Ukraine (Article 13 Part 4 mass media are obliged to give objective coverage of the election process. Their representatives are granted free access to all public events connected to the elections, the access to the meetings of election commissions and to the polling stations during the Election Day or the day of repeat vote is granted on conditions determined in the Part 9 of Article 28 of this Law. Election commissions, executive bodies, authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and local self-government bodies, officials and executives of these bodies within their authority and competency are obliged to give the representatives of mass media all information they need on the preparation and conduction of election process.

According to the Law of Ukraine on Information Article 25 Part 1, during the performance of professional duties the journalist has a right to make written, audio and video-recordings using all needed technical equipment, excluding incidents provided by law.