Ministry of Internal Affairs has promised to cooperate with Civil Network OPORA and other NGOs observing the election process. Such cooperation is going to help prevent, report and respond to bribery incidents and other election law violations, so that "Chernihiv scenario" wouldn't repeat. Some heads of Ministry of Internal Affairs' departments have affirmed this today on 28 September during a press-conference in Kyiv. Electoral and Parliamentary Programs Coordinator at the Civil Network OPORA Olha Aivazovska called on the President to urgently submit a bill introducing improvements to the Criminal Code for consideration of the Parliament. These improvements concern classification of bribery behaviors and were developed by electoral experts yet in summer.
Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affair Ivan Stoiko has stated: “As we know to our cost after elections in Chernihiv, we must do everything possible to avoid this situation happening again. Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and, probably, Zakarpattia can become hotspots in this election. Thus, we cooperate with Civil Network OPORA and other NGOs during the election campaign.”
Olha Aivazovska, Electoral and Parliamentary Programs Coordinator at the Civil Network OPORA, has emphasized: “We expect that the President urgently submits the a bill introducing improvements to the Criminal Code for consideration of the Parliament. These improvements concern classification of bribery behaviors and were developed by electoral experts and handed to the President yet in summer. His public commitment to debar 'Marshal Buckwheat' from participation in these elections must be fulfilled.” Olha Aivazovska also hopes that law-enforcement officers, official observers and journalists will cooperate, but not compete with each other; that they will work together to ensure the rule of law and public order in local elections. Besides that, incidents when observers were not allowed to attend election commission meetings, like an incident that occurred on Saturday (26 September) when a journalist was removed from commission meeting by submachine gunners, will be investigated and receive a fair legal assessment.
“Taking into consideration that voting rights violations are classified as grave crimes, we have authority to detain suspects and conduct investigation on the spot”, - Ihor Tsiupryk, Deputy Head of the Investigation Department of MIA of Ukraine, stated.
Vasyl Burzhynskyi, Head of the Information and Analytical Department of the MIA of Ukraine, has provided interesting statistics concerning election-related violations committed during 2015 local elections: “We have 187 incidents reported and 25 criminal cases opened, 11 of which are directly related to the election process.” Parliamentary monitoring | Website | Facebook | Twitter (#вибори2015; #elect_ua; #opora; #опора) Reference: