Volyn oblast branch of the Civil Network OPORA appeals to the precinct and district election commissions and call them to fully comply the electoral legislation, namely to give the observers the copies of vote counting protocols.
According to the information of the Civil Network OPORA, at certain polling stations of Volyn oblast the members of PEC claim that they will not give the copies of protocols made on blank forms received form the CEC to the observers. Such clarifications they seemingly received during the training of the members of PEC from the District election commission, which , for its part, is referring to the instructions given by the CEC. At the same time, no one explained they how exactly the PEC should fulfill the norm on preparation of copies of protocols (either to make photocopies or to write down the results on a blank sheet of paper).
We remind that according to the Article79 (8) of the Law of Ukraine on the Election of the President of Ukraine "the copies...of protocol, signed by the Head and Secretary of the PEC and sealed by the commission should be urgently given" to all proxies of the candidates and official observers, who were present at the polling station during the vote tabulation. During the previous election campaigns such copies were made from the empty forms issued by CEC.
This year each PEC received 75 samples of such empty forms. At the same time the vast majority of the polling stations do not possess neither copy machines, nor other equipment, which could be used to make copies of these protocols. Therefore, PEC should make copies for the observers using the empty forms for the vote count protocols.
Moreover, we emphasize that the fact of " not giving a copy of the electoral protocol" leads to penalization ranging from 20 to 100 untaxed minimums of citizen income.
Other potential violations, which could take place in Volyn oblast, is the establishment of the schedule for submition of the electoral documentation by DEC. According to the information form the observers, DEC of the districts # 21 and # 23 made so called timetables for the submission of documents. According to these schedules, which are even approved by the decisions of DEC, precinct commissions from different regions should submit the documents at a certain time slot. Thus, PEC from Kivertsiv rayon (district #23) stated that the documents should be submitted not earlier than 7:00 AM on Monday. PEC of Ratniv rayon (district #21) advised to submit the documents to the district commission not earlier than 4:00 PM, Monday. The same this is observer in other rayons.
We emphasise that such recomendations of DEC are illegal. Because according to Article 79 (10) of the Law of Ukraine on the Election of the President of Ukraine "packages containing the vote counting protocols from PEC... should be urgently submitted to the district election commission right after the meeting of the commission is over." Therefore if the PEC is not fulfilling this norm it will be considered as gross violation of law. Unfortunately, other modes of behavior for the members of election commissions are not established.
In order to prevent long queues during the submission of documents at the district election commission, we advise DEC and local authorities think about the creation of an environment for the members of PEC - find an additional hall or room, where all people could fit and wait their turn to submit the document calmly.
Other modes of behavior of the members of PEC and DEC will be considered as gross violations of law.
Press-service of the Civil Network OPORA in Volyn oblast
Electoral programs coordinator of the Civil Network OPORA in Volyn oblast
067 416 50 86
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. Since March, OPORA conducts a wide observation campaign during snap Presidential election, interim Parliamentary elections (district #83), and special local elections. The organization cooperates with 175 long-term observers, who are watching the course of election campaign in all Ukrainian regions. On the Election Day on May 25, 3,000 activists will join them to conduct the parallel vote tabulation, based on statistical sample.