Today, on 15 November 2015 from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, Ukrainians will elect mayors in 29 cities. As OPORA has already informed, there is a high probability of conflicts during the voting and vote count process as well as use-of-force confrontations and appeals against election results in 14 of 29 cities. Civil Network OPORA deploys over 1,000 observers to monitor elections in 29 cities, and conduct parallel vote tabulation for mayoral election in Dnipropetrovsk. It should be mentioned that OPORA operatively publishes information about violations detected during the election campaign on the Map of Violations “2015 Local Elections” and on its website.
It should be mentioned that preparatory meetings of precinct election commissions are scheduled for 7:15 AM. The voting is to be held from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. We would like to mention that the electoral legislation prohibits inclusion of voters in voter lists on the election day. On the election day, 15 November 2015, election commission can't make any changes in voter lists besides correction of errors and inconsistencies, even by the court ruling.
Election will be held in 29 Ukrainian cities having over 90 thousand voters. It should be mentioned that according to the new Law on Local Elections, the second round of mayoral election is to be held in cities having over 90 thousand voters, where none of the candidates took 50% +1 vote in the first round on 25 October. Only 5 of 35 cities having 90 thousand voters or more have managed to elect mayors in the first round: Sloviansk, Lysychansk, Odesa, Ternopil and Kharkiv. 2,741 candidates have already participated in the first round of city mayor election on 25 October in 358 cities of Ukraine. The second round of mayoral elections is held in 29 cities with 58 candidates participating.
On 15 November, 29 of 35 cities hold the second round of mayoral election with two candidates participating in each city, who received the highest number of votes on25 October. The election results of 15 November election will be considered valid regardless of the voter turnout. The second round in held in the following cities: Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Lutsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Dniprodzerzhynsk, Kryvyi Rih, Nikopol, Pavlohrad, Kramatorsk, Zhytomyr, Uzhhorod, Berdiansk, Zaporizhia, Melitopol, Ivano-Frankivsk, Bila Tserkva, Kirovohrad, Sievierodonetsk, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Kremenchuk, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernihiv and Chernivtsi. It should be mentioned that elections were not held in Mariupol and Krasnoarmiisk on 25 October, and the date for these elections is scheduled for 29 November by a special law.
14 of 29 cities where the second round of mayoral election is to be held have a high probability of conflicts during the voting and vote count process as well as use-of-force confrontations and appeals against election results. These cities are: Dnipropetrovsk, Pavlohrad, Kryvyi Rih, Dniprodzerzhynsk, Nikopol, Zaporizhzhia, Berdiansk, Melitopol, Kramatorsk, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Uzhhorod.
Nearly 1,5 million Ukrainian internally displaced persons will not be able to vote in local elections in their new territorial communities. A group of NGOs comprising Civil Network OPORA, Donetsk oblast cell of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Right for Protection All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation, Institute for Social and Economic Studies, Vostok SOS and Crimea SOS Citizen Initiatives as well as 9 MPs has developed and initiated the Law #2501а-1 on Amendments to Some Legislative Acts Guaranteeing Voting Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, giving IDPs an opportunity to change their voting address by submitting a personal application for election address change and vote at the factual residence address in nationwide and local elections. However, despite all the measures taken by the public and experts, the VRU Committee on Judicial Policy and Justice failed to consider this bill and to introduce it to the Parliament for consideration.
Central Election Commission gave 83 nationwide, regional, and local Ukrainian NGOs an approval to have official observers in local elections. Nationwide NGO Civil Network OPORA has received such approval on 10 September 2015.
Elections of city mayors in cities having 90 thousand of voters and more are being held under absolute majority election system. Thus, a candidate who gains 50% of voter turnout +1 vote wins the election on 25 October. However, if any candidate doesn't manage to get this percentage, the second round will be scheduled for 15 November 2015 with two candidates who gained the highest number of votes participating. A candidate gaining the highest support is considered elected. Mayoral candidates could be nominated both by local party cells or by candidates themselves.
On 16 November at 10:30 AM in the UNIAN Information Agency (4 Khreshatyk St., Kyiv), OPORA will promulgate preliminary results of election day observation, analyze how the most widespread violations influenced election results, and announce the results of parallel vote tabulation in Dnipropetrovsk city election.
We would like to remind that OPORA has prepared various unique instruments which will help you to follow the election campaign and make a conscious choice.
OPORA's Map of Violations “2015 Local Elections”;
Application “Local Elections” for Android;
OPORA's Map “Mayoral elections: second round. Who are the candidates in your city ”;
Social video ad “How ballots for 25 October elections look like”;
Social video ad “Don't vote for election tricksters”;
Social video ad “What election schemers should expect”;
Social video ad “Read, Watch, Study, Inform. 2015 Elections”;
Service “Search for a TEC/DEC member: party affiliation and conflicts (1998-2015)”.
It should be mentioned that information about violations reported during the election campaign and on the voting day are published by the OPORA on its Map of Violations “2015 Local Elections”: http://map.oporaua.org/
Besides that, OPORA operatively informs about the course of election day:
On website: http://oporaua.org/ On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cn.opora
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/opora(#вибори2015 #elect_ua @opora)
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