Election campaigning in early Kryvyi Rih mayoral election is quiet competitive on its final stage. 11 of 15 mayoral candidates have been actively campaigning and communicating with the voters. Thus, the voters in Kryvyi Rih could make personal opinion about the alternatives available in early mayoral election.
According to OPORA's data, self-nominated candidate Yurii Vilkul has the most intensive campaign in the city. The other active candidates were: Oleh Boichenko (self-nominated), Inna Ivanchenko (self-nominated), Mykola Kolesnyk (Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP), Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union), and Svitlana Sova (Syla Liudei). At the same time, Yurii Vilkul attracted voters' attention by using his status of a current Mayor, and campaign on public events held in duty.
Interim financial reports on receipts to and expenditures from campaign funds of candidates showed that the candidates spent 1 million 925 thousand UAH for election campaigning. The following candidates have highest expenses: Yurii Vilkul (over 748 thousand UAH), Semen Semenchenko (around 485 thousand UAH), and Mykola Kolesnyk (over 370 thousand UAH). Electoral funds of candidates were almost on 100% formed by voluntary donations from natural persons. Moreover, all the donations made to Yurii Vilkul's campaign fund contain the same amounts. Only 8 of 10 candidates, who had opened their electoral funds in accordance with the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, submitted interim financial reports to the territorial election commission on time.
The closer the election day was, the more black PR technologies were used, deliberately false information was spread, and candidates' rhetorics became aggressive. For example, campaign materials of Semen Semenchenko were targeted against Yurii Vilkul, some media published biased information materials about Mykola Kolesnyk and Semen Semenchenko, anonymous political advertising with conflicting accents was disseminated. All these facts were not favorable for a proper discussion between candidates about local development prospects.
Officials and executives of local self-government bodies are actively involved in campaigning efforts of Yurii Vilkul, what hazards the principle of equal and impartial treatment of all candidates. At the same time, Yurii Vilkul himself didn't secure a proper separation of his official duties and campaigning activities.
Campaign rules were widely violated. Most incidents concerned placement of campaign materials in forbidden places and dissemination of printed campaign materials without an imprint.
City, district city and precinct election commissions were undergoing changes, which had negative influenced on their functioning. OPORA's observers report enhanced politicization of Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission. It either disrupted consideration of the certain issues, or could not take a decision. All the subjects of the election process should avoid politically motivated activities of election commissions, and secure their functioning in a legitimate and politically unbiased manner.
Ballot papers have been already produced and handed from city to city district election commissions. City district election commissions received 520 thousand 539 ballot papers, and will keep them till transportation to the PECs.
For the most part, activities of OPORA's observers were not restricted. However, decisions of Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court and District Administrative Court of Appeal concerning cancellation of Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission's Resolution on ascertaining the fact of obstruction to activities of OPORA's observer by the Head of Ternivskyi District Election Commission, may negatively influence conditions at institutions where official observers work.
ELECTION CAMPAIGNING
15 candidates are participating in early election of Kryvyi Rih city mayor. 5 of them were nominated by local cells of political parties (Samopomich Union, Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP, Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement political party, Serhii Kaplin's Party of Simple People, and Syla Liudei), and 10 were nominated independently.
11 candidates for city mayor were campaigning quite actively in the period from (3/15/2016 to 3/23/2016). According to OPORA's observers, self-nominated candidate Yurii Vilkul campaigned the most actively. Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union) was the second the most active candidate. Mykola Kolesnyk (Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP) and Inna Ivanchenko share the third place. However, 4 candidates haven't demonstrated any apparent interest to election campaigning (Nataliia Novytska, Yaroslav Shram, Oleksii Kryvenko and Vasyl Serdiukov).
Table “Campaign activeness rating of Kryvyi Rih city mayor election candidates”
| # (from the most to the least active campaigning) | Subject of nomination |
| 1. | Yurii Vilkul (self-nominated) |
| 2. | Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union) |
| 3. |
Mykola Kolesnyk (Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP) Inna Ivanchenko (self-nominated) |
| 4. | Svitlana Sova (Syla Liudei) |
| 5. | Ihor Levytskyi Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement |
| 6. | Oleh Boichenko (self-nominated) |
| 7. | Yana Berkut (self-nominated) |
| 8. | Oleksandr Kryzhov (self-nominated) |
| 9. | Oleh Kosiak (self-nominated) |
| 10. | Oleksandr Natarov (self-nominated) |
Candidates for Kryvyi Rih city mayor used various of campaigning and interaction with the voters.
The most widespread types of campaigning
Candidates place political advertising and printed campaign materials on outdoor advertising means (billboards, placards, citylights) in all Districts of Kryvyi Rih.
This form of campaigning is used by self-nominated candidates Yurii Vilkul, Oleh Boichenko, Yana Berkut, Inna Ivanchenko and Oleh Kosiak, as well as candidates nominated by local party cells Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union), Ihor Levytskyi (Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement). According to OPORA's assessment, Yurii Vilkul (self-nominated) used outdoor advertising the most actively.
Nominee from the Syla Liudei party Svitlana Sova, on the contrary, placed only one billboard in the city, in order to draw citizen attention to campaign expenses of other candidates.
Starting from 15 March 2016, campaign materials without an imprint, with similar design to Yurii Vilkul's campaign materials, were widely placed on billboards and citylights. They contain the following slogans: “Either we elect the mayor, or they seize the city”, “Stop outrage – elect mayor in the first round”, (in Russian – OPORA). Besides that, leaflets with the same design and the same content, titled “invitation to election”, are disseminated from campaign tents of Yurii Vilkul.
Placement of anonymous outdoor advertising with campaign-related content aggravates the problem of non-transparent campaign financing. Besides that, according to OPORA, such outdoor advertising causes political confrontation in the city, and is not favorable for a conflict-free discussion about local issues.
In the last week before the election day, vehicle advertising appeared on city streets. This form of campaigning was used by Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union) and self-nominated candidates Inna Ivanchenko and Oleksandr Kryzhov.
Self-nominated Yurii Vilkul placed campaigning ads on local TV and radio channels. Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union) and Mykola Kolesnyk (Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP) were more focused on participation in broadcasts of local TV and radio stations.
Svitlana Sova (Syla Liudei) and Oleh Boichenko (self-nominated candidate backed by AUU Svoboda) campaign actively in social networks. OPORA's observers reported that a number of candidates use paid advertising on Facebook, but don't include these expenses in campaign financing reports.
Placement of campaigning tents and dissemination of printed campaign materials is still quite popular form of election campaigning.
A number of candidates conduct direct meetings with the voters quite often. Self-nominated candidate Yurii Vilkul participated in meetings with labor groups as a City Mayor. However, observers' access to these such events was restricted, because they were not announced beforehand.
Some political parties, which do not participate in early election of Kryvyi Rih city mayor, announced that they support candidates from other political parties (AUU Batkivshchyna announced its support for Ihor Levytskyi, nominated by the Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement; Democratic Alliance supported Svitlana Sova, nominated by the Syla Liudei party). At the same time, some representatives of the Opposition Bloc party's local cells announced their support for current Mayor Yurii Vilkul.
During the reporting period, the following candidates visited Kryvyi Rih: leader of the Samopomich Union Andrii Sadovyi (to campaign for Semen Semenchenko); MP of Ukraine, member of the AUU Svoboda Yurii Levchenko (to campaign for Oleh Boichenko), MP of Ukraine Nataliia Veselova and leader of the Syla Liudei party Oleksandr Solontai (to campaign for Svitlana Sova, nominated by the Syla Liudei). Besides that, leader of the AUU Svoboda Oleh Tiahnybok has planned a campaigning trip on 3/24/2016 to support Oleh Boichenko.
Candidates' expenses on election campaigning
According to the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, election campaigning shall be financed from electoral funds of candidates for city mayor. It is prohibited to use other funds from other sources for campaign purposes (Article 54 (6)). According to the Article 70 (1) of the Law, candidates have the right, but are not obliged to open an electoral fund account. Thus, any candidate who didn't open an electoral fund account are allowed to campaign, but shall not break the prohibition on campaigning financed from other sources than campaign funds.
The Law also establishes requirements for interim and final financial reports on contributions received and expenditures made from an election campaign fund of a candidate.
Interim report of an electoral fund manager shall be submitted to the TEC not later than five days before the election day. The report must include information contributions received and expenditures made from an election campaign fund of a candidate from the day the current electoral fund account was opened to the tenth day before the election day (until 21 March inclusive in early election of Kryvyi Rih city mayor). City Election Commission must publish the data from interim reports of candidates within two days after a report is submitted. The final financial report of a candidate must be submitted to a TEC before not later than the seventh day after the election day (until 3 April inclusive).
According to the Article 72 (1, 2) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, electoral fund of a mayoral candidate shall be formed from his or her own resources, as well as voluntary donations from natural persons. There are no limitations for a candidate's or party's own funds, which are transferred to an electoral fund account. However, a voluntary donation of a physical person must not exceed ten minimal wages, particularly 13,780 UAH.
Ten of fifteen candidates for Kryvyi Rih mayor opened electoral fund accounts: Mykola Kolesnyk (UKROP), Ihor Levytskyi (Narodnyi Kontrol), Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich), Svitlana Sova (Syla Liudei), Vasyl Serdiukov (Serhii Kaplin's Party of Simple People), and self-nominated candidates Yurii Vilkul, Oleh Boichenko, Inna Ivanchenko (self-nominated), and Oleh Kosiak. Eight of them, except for Oleh Kosiak and Yana Berkut, submitted interim financial reports to Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission.
The total amount of funds on campaign accounts of candidates, who have timely submitted interim financial reports is 1 million 992 thousand 456 UAH. In total, the candidates spent 1 million 925 thousand 524 UAH.
Table “Electoral funds of candidates for Kryvyi Rih city mayor”
| Candidate | General amount of the election fund (UAH) | Expenses (UAH) | Balance of electoral fund account (UAH) |
| Yurii Vilkul | 780340 | 748013.2 | 32326.8 |
| Semen Semenchenko | 500429 | 484452.3 | 15976.67 |
| Mykola Kolesnyk | 385700 | 370435.7 | 15264.3 |
| Inna Ivanchenko | 162867 | 162858.73 | 8.27 |
| Ihor Levytskyi | 62200 | 59122.4 | 3077.6 |
| Svitlana Sova | 54000 | 53780 | 220 |
| Oleh Boichenko | 46920 | 46862 | 58 |
Yurii Vilkul has the highest amount of funds on his campaign account, and Oleh Boichenko has the lowest amount. As for the general expenses made from electoral funds, the order of candidates is the same.
Table “Sources of receipts to electoral funds of candidates for Kryvyi Rih city mayor”
| Candidate | Total amount of funds received | Funds transferred by a local party cell (% of the total number of receipts) | Funds transferred by a candidate (% of the total number of receipts) | Individual contributions (% of the total number of receipts) |
| Yurii Vilkul | 780340 | 0% | 6% | 94% |
| Semen Semenchenko | 500429 | 0% | 0% | 100% |
| Mykola Kolesnyk | 385700 | 0% | 0% | 100% |
| Inna Ivanchenko | 162867 | 0% | 100% | 0% |
| Ihor Levytskyi | 62200 | 0% | 40% | 60% |
| Svitlana Sova | 54000 | 100% | 0% | 0% |
| Oleh Boichenko | 46920 | 0% | 100% | 0% |
Having analyzed the sources of receipts to electoral funds, we determined the following peculiarities of election campaign financing: 1) electoral funds of Yurii Vilkul, Semen Semenchenko, and Mykola Kolesnykov are almost 100% filled by individual contributions (only Yurii Vilkul's electoral fund had 6% of contributions made by the candidate); 2) electoral fund of Svitlana Sova was formed only by the cost of local party cell; 3) self-nominated candidates Inna Ivanchenko and Oleh Boichenko contributed 100% of funds by themselves; 4) Ihor Levytskyi's electoral fund was 60% formed of individual contributions and 40% of his own funds.
We have generalized the peculiarities of electoral fund receipts based on the data available in interim financial reports:
- All the individual contributions to electoral fund of Yurii Vilkul were 53 equal payments 13,780 UAH each, including a whole family of three persons which contributed 41340 (3 payments 13,780 UAH each);
- Most of individual contributions to electoral fund of Semen Semenchenko were made in the other cities;
- Contributions to electoral fund if Mykola Kolesnyk were made in equal payments. Different individuals made 29 contributions 13,300 UAH each;
- Candidate for Kryvyi Rih city mayor Inna Ivanchenko didn't submit her financial report in a form established by the CEC;
- The total amount of individual contributions (37 thousand UAH) made to electoral fund of Ihor Levytskyi constitutes five payments, 4 made by the same person. Thus, this contributor violated the Article 72 (2) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, saying that an amount donated by a single individual to the same electoral fund shall not exceed ten minimal wages.
- Vasyl Serdiukovsubmitted to Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission a report, which didn't contain information about contributions made to the electoral fund. It should be mentioned that OPORA's observers didn't notice any active campaigning efforts of this candidate.
Detailed information and infographics about interim reports of candidates for Kryvyi Rih city mayor are available at: http://www.oporaua.org/novyny/42244-kryvyi-rih-vilkul-vytratyv-na-vybory-maizhe-750-tysiach-hryven-semenchenko-ponad-500-tysiach-analiz-promizhnykh-finansovykh-zvitiv-kandydativ
VIOLATION OF ELECTORAL LEGISLATION/STANDARDS
Similarly to previous reporting periods, OPORA continued recording violations of election campaigning rules, established by the Law. However, despite we had appealed to law enforcement bodies, we still see taxis in the city with political advertising of self-nominated candidate Yurii Vilkul, who is the current Mayor. According to the Article 60(9) of Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, it is forbidden to place political advertising outside and inside of public transport, including taxi; inside and outside of subways, bus and railway stations, ports and airports. Besides that, observers detected stickers placed in prohibited places, styled similarly to campaign materials of Mykola Kolesnyk (Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP), but the candidate says it's black PR from the opponents.
In the last weeks before the election day, campaign materials with signs of black PR, unauthentic or unverified information were disseminated. For example, campaigners of Semen Semenchenko disseminated leaflets with slogans 'Samopomich and Semenchenko against Vilkul's mafia' and 'Let's destroy Vilkulov's mafia' (in Russian – OPORA). City Election Commission obliged Semenchenko to stop dissemination of these leaflets. Besides that, printed materials with provocative information about candidate Mykola Kolesnyk (Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP) were disseminated in the city. The latter was aimed to manipulate opinion of the certain voters, related to radical manifestations of the electoral process. It should be mentioned that some mass media published obviously biased information about some candidates, what is against the standards and legal requirements concerning unbiased coverage of the election process (materials were targeted against candidates Semenchenko and Kolesnyk).
OPORA's observers detected some publications in the media containing opinion poll results, published not in accordance with law requirements. For example, number 11 of the Puls newspaper, published on 3/16/2016, contained information about an opinion poll, but didn't indicate the time and location of its conduct, the scale and type of sampling, polling method, exact wording of questions, and possible statistical error.
There are signs of unequal and biased attitude of state authorities and local self-government bodies, what is against the legislation. For example, the Head of Inhuletskyi District City Council Yevhen Ryzhov de-facto campaigned for Yurii Vilkul when he mentioned about his participation in the elections and affirming the benefits of his administration. The position of Kryvyi Rih's public officials and civil servants supporting Yurii Vilkul is actively promulgated by the media and in campaign materials. Yurii Vilkul is still using the benefits of combining official duties and campaign efforts. Such problems with securing equal rights and opportunities in the election process raise the topicality of reforming electoral legislation regulating campaigning activities of candidates who hold public offices.
Local assistance program providing one-time 500 UAH payment, which is being advertised as initiative of current Mayor and candidate Yurii Vilkul, remains a significant factor influencing the election campaign.
ACTIVITIES OF THE KRYVYI RIH CITY ELECTION COMMISSION
During the reporting period (3/15/2016 – 3/23/2016), the certain members of Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission were substituted, what has affected its activities. Nominating entities had applied for early withdrawal of Commission's Secretary (AUU Batkivshchyna) and two commission members who worked on a paid basis (AUU Batkivshchyna and Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP. Besides that, two other members of the TEC representing local cell of the People's Front party were substituted. After rotations in the City Election Commission resulting in lots of new members at TECs, the document circulation was quite complicated, as well as preparation of draft decisions. For example, according to one of the draft decisions, two heads of Dovhyntsivskyi District Election Commission were appointed simultaneously.
OPORA's observers report enhanced politicization of some members of election commission, for example during registration of official observers representing candidate Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union). In a number of cases, commission members had deliberately left TEC meetings during consideration of controversial draft decisions to break the quorum. At the same time, Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission is functioning in accordance with the Law and doesn't have any signs destabilization.
There were 3 court challenges against decisions of Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission during the reporting period.
- Candidate Oleksandr Natarov (self-nominated) appealed against a resolution of the City Election Commission concerning cancellation of regidtration of candidates Oleh Boichenko, Inna Ivanchenko, Ihor Levytskyi and Oleh Kosiak. However, the court didn't satisfy the appeal;
- Proxy of Yurii Vilkul appealed against a decisions of the City Election Commission concerning inauthenticity of information placed on billboards of this candidate. He meant in particular a slogan “Yurii Vikruk - the only candidate from Kryvyi Rih citizens” on outdoor advertising boards of the candidate. Besides that, the proxy has appealed against TEC's decision recognizing the leaflets, produced by the City Council, as campaign materials because they contained information about realization of a budget program providing one-time monetary assistance to the citizens. The corresponding resolutions of Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission were canceled by the court.
- Ex-head of City Election Commission Ihor Stelmatskyi, who is an official observer of the Citizens of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast NGO, challenged decisions of the TEC by which it had satisfied a complaint lodged by OPORA's official observer concerning actions of the Head of Ternivskyi District City Election Commission, who didn't allow the observer to attend during submission of documents for PEC membership. Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court canceled resolution of Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission, according to which actions of the Head of Ternivskyi District City Election Commission were recognized as violation. Some time later, Dnipropetrovsk Administrative Court of Appeal rejected the appeal of Civil Network OPORA against the decision of Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court. The court explained its rejection by the fact that official observer of Civil Network OPORA didn't submit a written request for information to Ternivskyi District City Election Commission.According to the court decision, the refusal to provide information was based on the fact that official observer didn't submit an official request.OPORA is convinced that such decision of the court restricts observation efforts and hinders detection of electoral violations committed at election commission level at all stages of the election process (detailed description of the court decision and OPORA's position is available at: http://www.oporaua.org/novyny/42237-dnipropetrovskyi-sud-vidkhylyv-apeliatsiinu-skarhu-opory-i-lehitymizuvav-porushennia-prav-ofitsiinoho-sposterihacha).
Kramatorsk City Election Commission was actively enough considering complains lodged by other subjects of the election process. For example, City Election Commission has satisfied a complaint from candidate Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union) concerning dissemination of printed campaign materials containing information in support of the current Mayor Yurii Vilkul by deputy mayors and executive committee administrators. Based on the results of complaint consideration, city election commission has ascertained that the law requirement prohibiting involvement of subordinates in campaigning efforts was violated and issued a warning to Yurii Vilkul.
Kramatorsk City Election Commission also ascertained that Semenchenko had violated the law himself when he disseminated the certain information in campaign materials (a slogan “Samopomich against Vilkul's mafia”) and banned dissemination of such leaflets. It should be mentioned that candidates were quite active in lodging complaints against each other. For example, self-nominated candidate Inna Ivanchenko filed 5 complaints concerning campaigning efforts of Yurii Vilkul; Oleksandr Nasarov complained against actions of Semen Semenchenko, Inna Ivanchenko and Mykola Kolesnyk.
On 3/22/2016, Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission provided the forms of PEC protocols and ballot papers to city district commissions. Thusm city district election commissions received 520 thousand 539 ballot papers, and will keep them till transportation to the PECs (not earlier than 3/24/2016). At the same time, according to the Calendar Plan of the Early Mayoral Election in Kryvyi Rih, city election commission was supposed to receive ballot papers in a printing enterprise’s packaging not later than nine days before the election day (till 17 March inclusive). The city election commission, for its part, was supposed to hand them to city district election commissions not later than on the next day after receiving them from the printing enterprise. Although Kramatorsk City Election Commission didn't fulfill its duties on time, it doesn't hazard the next stages of the election process.
Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission registered 2,110 official observers from mayoral candidates and non-governmental organizations. However, only 8 of 15 candidates used their right to register official observers. The following candidates registered the largest number of observers: Mykola Kolesnyk (Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP) – 317, Svitlana Sova (Syla Liudei) – 218. The legislatively established period for registration of official observers has finished on 3/21/2016.
Table “Number of official observers from candidates registered by the city election commission”
| Candidate | Number of registered observers |
| Mykola Kolesnyk | 349 |
| Semen Semenchenko | 317 |
| Svitlana Sova | 218 |
| Oleh Boichenko | 86 |
| Inna Ivanchenko | 60 |
| Ihor Levytskyi | 24 |
| Yaroslav Shram | 8 |
| Nataliia Novytska | 8 |
ACTIVITIES OF THE CITY DISTRICT ELECTION COMMISSIONS
There are 7 district city election commissions functioning in the city, authorized to fulfill a number of important steps necessary for the conduct of election process in early mayoral election. For example, district city election commissions formed the PECs, make substitutions in their membership, and are authorized to hand ballot papers to precinct election commissions.
However, numerous rotations in membership of district city election commissions affect their stable functioning. The maximum number of members in such territorial election commission is 18.
Table “Number of substitutions in membership of district city election commissions since the official start of early mayoral election in Kryvyi Rih”
| Election commission | Number of substitutions made since the beginning of election process |
| Dzerzhynskyi District | 10 |
| Dovhyntsivskyi District | 8 |
| Zhovtnevyi District | 6 |
| Inhuletskyi District | 10 |
| Saksahanskyi District | 12 |
| Ternivskyi District | 9 |
| Centralno-Miskyi District | 8 |
At the same time, there was a confusion with substitution of the Head of Dovhyntsivskyi District City Election Commission (nominating entity – AUU Batkivshchyna), as long as the election commission appointed two heads simultaneously. Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission appointed the head of this district city election commission later for the second time.
OPORA has already described a number of violations committed by district city election commissions in its previous interim reports. For example, Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission has considered a complaint from Civil Network OPORA concerning forgery of electoral documents by Ternivskyi District City Election Commission. The complaint concerned forgery of a resolution passed by this election commission, as long as it had voted for one persons to be appointed to managerial position at polling stations #121698 and #121700, but in the attachment to the resolution published on official website of the commission and submitted to the Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission, were indicated other persons. Kramatorsk City Election Commission took a decision to refer to law enforcement bodies concerning the forgery of electoral documents by Ternivskyi District City Election Commission. Other district city election commissions have also committed a number of violations in the process of PEC formation. You may find a detailed description of violations and incidents related to activities of these election commissions in previous reports of Civil Network OPORA.
OPORA's observers reported that Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission has properly organized the process of handing ballot papers to district city election commissions. All the district city election commissions have separate premises for keeping ballot papers till their handing to PECs (not earlier than 3/24/2016). These rooms protected by signaling system, sealed and guarded by police officers. In Centralno-Miskyi district, however, an election commission has filed two acts on technical errors in the number of ballot papers indicated by a printing enterprise on packaging.
ACTIVITIES OF PRECINCT ELECTION COMMISSIONS
There are 293 precinct election commissions created and functioning in early election of Kryvyi Rih city mayor. During the reporting period, the PECs had the following duties: 1) to compile voter list on a special polling station (not later than ten days before the election day – till 16 March 2016 inclusive); 2) provide one copy of a preliminary voter list on a regular polling station and voter lists on special polling station, which should be placed in PEC to inform the public; 3) to send or deliver personal invitations to every voter (not later than ten days prior to the election day – till 16 March 2016 inclusive); 4) consideration of voters' applications concerning an update to preliminary voter list, including the inclusion or exclusion of the voter or any other persons in/from the voter list, and s well as concerning the presence or absence of a note indicating that the voter is permanently unable to move without assistance (not later than five days before the election day – till 21 March 2016 inclusive).
According to the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, local cells of political parties, which have factions in the current convocation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and candidates for Kryvyi Rih mayor could submit one nominee to each PEC. As of 3/23/2016, 10 candidates and three local cells of political parties, which have factions in the current convocation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Samopomich Union, People's Front, Opposition Bloc), have their representatives in PECs. 2 parliamentary factions (AUU Batkivshchyna and Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity') and 5 mayoral candidates (self-nominated candidates Inna Ivanchenko, Oleh Kosiak, Oleksandr Kryzhov, and Semen Semenchenko from the Samopomich Union, and Ihor Levytskyi from the Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement). More than 20% of PEC members were nominated by heads of district city election commissions.
Table Representatives of candidates for mayor of Kryvyi Rih and local cells of political parties in PECs: as of 3/23/2016 "
| Local party cell/candidate | PEC heads | PEC deputy heads | PEC secretaries | PEC members | Total | Percentage (%) of PEC appointed officials of the number of positions available for electoral subjects |
| Yaroslav Shram (self-nominated) | 17 | 17 | 20 | 239 | 293 | 100% |
| Oleksii Kryvenko (self-nominated) | 14 | 20 | 22 | 237 | 293 | 100% |
| Nataliia Novytska (self-nominated) | 28 | 23 | 25 | 217 | 293 | 100% |
| Local cell of the People's Front party | 33 | 22 | 27 | 211 | 293 | 100% |
| Oleksandr Natarov (self-nominated) | 32 | 24 | 27 | 210 | 293 | 100% |
| Yurii Vilkul (self-nominated) | 28 | 26 | 30 | 209 | 293 | 100% |
| Vasyl Serdiukov (Serhii Kaplin's Party of Simple People) | 29 | 23 | 32 | 209 | 293 | 100% |
| Local cell of the Opposition Bloc political party | 60 | 40 | 50 | 143 | 293 | 100% |
| Mykola Kolesnyk (Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP) | 16 | 32 | 17 | 227 | 292 | 100% |
| Local cell of the Samopomich Union | 21 | 41 | 22 | 208 | 292 | 100% |
| Oleh Boichenko (self-nominated) | 10 | 20 | 15 | 169 | 214 | 73% |
| Yana Berkut (self-nominated) | 2 | 3 | 3 | 30 | 38 | 13% |
| Svitlana Sova (Syla Liudei) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 22 | 8% |
| Inna Ivanchenko (self-nominated) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Oleh Kosiak (self-nominated) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Oleksandr Kryzhov (self-nominated) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Ihor Levytskyi Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Local cell of the AUU Batkivshchyna political party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Local cell of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' political party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
There were 300 substitutions made in PEC membership since their formation (as of 3/23/2016). Most of them occurred yet in the first days of PEC functioning. Later, only some rotations occurred in PECs. OPORA's observers reported that most of rotations concerned PEC members, which were nominated by district city TECs. As for mayoral candidates, the following have substituted the largest number of PEC members representing them: Mykola Kolesnyk (30) from the Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP, and self-nominated candidates Oleh Boichenko (23), Oleksandr Natarov (24), and Yaroslav Shram (21). At the same time, local cell of the Samopomich Union substituted the highest number of PEC members (32) if compared to Opposition Bloc and People's Front.
According to OPORA's observers, however, there are no hazards resulting from such changes in membership of PECs. The rotations in PECs didn't have critical influence on proper work of the corresponding commissions.
OPORA didn't notice any significant violations in activities of PECs in preparations to the early election. PECs at special polling stations prepared voter lists on time, and all PECs delivered personal invitations on time.
According to the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, a voter may submit an application to the precinct election commission or directly to the State Voter Register maintenance body until 21 March inclusive, seeking to correct the preliminary voter list, in particular concerning the inclusion or exclusion of the voter or any other persons in/from the voter list, as well as concerning the presence or absence of a note indicating that the voter is permanently unable to move without assistance. Instead, PEC takes a decision to send the application to a State Voter Register maintenance body base on the results of its consideration. Thus, PECs check the validity of applications they receive. The voters may also appeal directly to a State Voter Register maintenance body.
OPORA's observers didn't notice major interest of the voters to the preliminary voter list (from 1 to 5 appeals to PECs at polling stations a day, depending on a district).
According to observation results, solitary violations of electoral legislation were noticed in activities PECs. For example, observer at polling station #121495 noticed that PEC Head takes election commission's stamp outside of the premises. At a special polling station #121609, located in a hospital, an employee of this hospital was included in membership of the corresponding PEC. However, a substitution was made as of 3/22/201 to eliminate the violation of electoral law.
ACTIVITIES OF LAW-ENFORCEMENT BODIES
OPORA's observers work in active cooperation with law enforcement bodes in the city, and in accordance with independent standards of documenting the detected violations. According to the methodology of election monitoring, observers shall promptly call the police in case of electoral legislation violations. For example, OPORA appealed to law-enforcement bodies concerning dissemination of campaign materials without an imprint, illegal placement of campaigning materials on taxis, observer banned from entering the Ternivskyi District City Election Commission, and PEC Head who took the seal outside of the polling station #121495. However, observers haven't received official answers from the local police yet. Thus, we have to secure further oversight of local law enforcement bodies. It should be mentioned that the police chooses itself not to respond to the facts of electoral legislation violations reported by mass media. As a result, a number of violations of electoral legislation were not stopped because of low activeness of the police (particularly illegal campaigning).
However, OPORA denotes that public order was secured on a proper level during campaigning events organized by candidates. We also would like to emphasize the importance of such law-enforcement efforts also on the election day, during vote count and tabulation.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To the Central Election Commission
- To officially request election commissions in Kryvyi Rih to respect the rights of official observers in the election process without any exceptions.
To Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission, city district election commissions, PECs
- To refrain from any political motives in decision-making on the election process.
- To secure proper conditions of work for official observers on duty.
Candidates for Mayor of Kryvyi Rih, local cells of political parties
- To refrain from politically motivated substitutions in election commissions at all levels, in order to secure their stable functioning and proper training of commission members;
- To officially report any detected violations of electoral legislation to law-enforcement bodies in addition to providing this information to the public;
- To secure a conflict-free final stage of election campaigning, refrain from aggressive rhetorics and acute political confrontations. To respect voters' right to freely elect local authorities.
To law enforcement bodies
- To secure proper investigation of information about violations of electoral legislation during the election process, and inform the public about results.
- To provide more employees to secure public order during the election day, during vote count and tabulation, if there is such a need.