DECs in district #205 are formed

Summary

Numerous public conflicts and confrontations among electoral subjects with law-enforcement bodies and wide public involved were reported during formation of precinct election commissions in electoral district #205. Chernihiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office had withdrawn registration documents of nominees for PEC members from the DEC on the eve of the draw of lots, based on a criminal case over abuse of power committed by officials of the DEC. In addition to the fact that withdrawal of registration documents could have hazarded fair and transparent formation of PECs, it was made after sole consent of the Head of District Election Commission #205 Mykhailo Punko, and a number of procedures were violated. However, the documents were returned to the DEC only after public rallies, picketing and interference of candidates and MPs.

With the documents returned, the District Election Commission #205 continued working as usual and was authorized to form 83 precinct election commissions. All the registered candidates could nominate one representative to each PEC in the district. Although 114 candidates have gained their representatives in PECs after the draw of lots, the level of representation turned out to be quite low due to an exceeding number of participants. Each candidate has representatives in 9 PECs (of 83) in average. Besides that, 13 candidates don't have any formal representatives in PECs.

The parties whose parliamentary factions are registered with the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the current convocation have received the largest number of representatives in PECs. According to the Law, they are entitled to nominate 1 member to each PEC who shall be approved without participation in the draw of lots. All 6 parliamentary factions have used thir right, and nominated their representatives to almost each PECs in the district. The Opposition Block has representatives in all 83 PECs.

Although electoral subjects have submitted documents for 9,834 nominees, only 9,473 of them were allowed to participate in the draw. The DEC has rejected 361 nominees recognized to be "doubles", minors, and MP candidates. The presence of "doubles" in nominee lists shows lack of responsibility and technological approach of candidates (parties) to the compilation of lists and drawing up of the corresponding documents. All nomination documents submitted by MP candidate Serhii Berezenko nominated by the Petro Poroshenko Block were rejected due to the incorrect drawing up of documents (there was no signature of the candidate).

OPORA's observers have noticed some significant procedural violations or deliberate misuses committed by DEC members during the draw of lots and formation of PECs. Firstly, Chairman didn't announce the selected PEC members after the draw of lots. Secondly, PEC managerial positions were distributed in half-closed working groups.

Nomination of candidates for membership in PECs

Creation of election commissions is a key stage of the election process, which includes the formation of lower-level commissions (PECs) by higher-level commissions (DECs) on the basis of nominations submitted by electoral subjects. 10 July (Friday) was a deadline for creation of precinct election commissions at regular and special polling stations located within single-member district #205.

All nomination documents were to be submitted to the DEC before 8 July (Wednesday). According to the Law, the right to nominate candidates to the district election commissions shall be granted to: 1) political parties, whose deputy factions are registered with the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the current convocation and 2) MP candidates in single-member district #205. Nomination documents from a parliamentary faction could be submitted by an authorized person, and from an MP candidate – by a candidate himself or his proxy. Documents shall be submitted in paper and electronic form in MS Word format and recorded on CD-R or DVD-R. The documents must include: 1) a copy of the first page of Ukrainian citizen passport belonging to a nominee; 2) applications of nominees for PEC membership, written consent to work in a PEC and, if a person is nominated for PEC head, deputy head or secretary – a written consent to fulfill the corresponding duties.

On this stage of election process, withdrawal of nomination documents by Chernihiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office caused public resonance and candidates' indignation. The documents were withdrawn in the DEC by a sole consent of the Head of District Election Commission #205 Mykhailo Punko, what have caused public protests and accusations against prosecutors of interference in the electoral process.

On Monday 6 July 2015, investigation officers have withdrawn all 59 nomination documents and consent applications (with attachments) in both paper and electronic copies. District Election Commission passed its Decision #26 as of 7/7/2015 allowing to withdraw nomination documents submitted by 21 electoral subjects. According to the Decision, these documents were these documents were provided to criminal investigation officer Volodymyr Shmarovoz on the basis of letter #17-1531 from prosecutor. In particular, the prosecutor's agency has withdrawn documents filed by the following candidates: O.O. Baraboshko, O.S. Ostanin, V.D. Khoroshkovskyi, Yu.O. Kondratiuk, I.V. Bieriendieiev, V.V. Ohorodnikova, V.I. Oriekhova, Yu.A. Chyrydnik, L.F. Nikolaienko, L.L. Nazarov, L.I. Sapon, V.M. Pochkai, Yu.M. Tarasovets, Samopomich Union, O.S. Kharchenko, S.V. Zakharchenko, O.V. Krezub, P.V. Kleikevych, R.P. Mikailov, S.O. Karpov, V.H. Romanenko. Thus, Chernihiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office has withdrawn 85 sets of documents filed by candidates as of 12:00 PM on 8 July. According to the information provided by the DEC, there were 91 sets of documents received. Most of them have been already included in the Vybory electronic database. On 8 July in the evening, Deputy Head of the DEC Anna Levchuk has informed that all the documents were returned to the DEC and the Commission continued working as usual. 

The registration documents were withdrawn on the basis of criminal proceeding #42015270000000197 initiated on 7/4/2015 concerning abuses of power committed by officials of the DEC who knowingly received false applications from nominees for PEC membership on 4 July 2015.

Civil Network OPORA has repeatedly emphasized in its previous reports that citizens are sometimes included in PEC membership without their knowledge or prior consent and that nomination documents are often forged. In 2012 regular and 2014 early parliamentary elections, most of parties and electoral subjects have used these types of forgery to different extent. As a result, a vast number of PEC members were substituted. Electoral subjects, as usually, were not brought to responsibility for such violations. Thus, law-enforcement bodies should definitely pay more attention to nomination of PEC members and respond to any violations detected. Besides that, law-enforcement bodies must adhere to the procedures established by the Law and guarantee equal and unbiased treatment of all electoral stakeholders.

As for the established by the Law time constraints for submission of nomination documents (until 11:59 PM on 8 July), all subjects of the election process have complied with them. Observers haven't noticed any incidents when a single person submitted documents from different candidates.

PEC candidates nominated by parliamentary factions were included on mandatory basis providing that al legislative requirements had been met. Thus, all 6 parliamentary factions of the current Parliament have received representatives in almost all PECs:

Only the Opposition Block has representatives in all 83 precinct election commissions of single-member district #205.

Drawing of lots and formation of PECs

Meeting of the DEC #205, dedicated to the draw of lots for precinct election commissions' membership, had started at 5 p.m. on 9 July 2015, and was accompanied by disagreement and controversy between DEC members concerning the need to verify whether nomination documents correspond to requirements of electoral legislation. These controversies caused not less than five breaks for the first 9 hours.

Nominees from parliamentary factions were mandatory included to the PECs if their nomination documents were submitted in compliance with law requirements; nominees from MP candidates have received PEC membership through the draw of lots, one nominee per candidate. The draw of lots was conducted only in case the number of nominees is higher than the number of vacant seats in a PEC.

According to the Law, precinct election commissions comprising head, deputy head, secretary and other members shall have the following membership:

• 10-14 persons – for small precincts;
• 12-16 persons – for average precincts;
• 14-18 persons – for large precincts;

At election precincts in which the number of voters does not exceed 50 persons, precinct election commission may consist of the head, the secretary and 2-4 members. Thus, there were 8 small, 10 average and 65 large election precincts formed by the DEC #205.

Before the District Election Commission passed decisions on creation of PECs, admissibility of nominees was verified (their correspondence to legislative requirements). Thus, after the first processing of nominee lists by the Vybory system, DEC members proposed to reject 366 nominees recognized to be "doubles", minors (under 18 years old), and MP candidates

Besides that, the DEC decided to reject all nominations of candidate Serhii Berezenko, nominated by Petro Poroshenko Block, due to the incorrect drawing up of documents. However, DEC member Serhii Zharko had affirmed that nomination documents submitted on behalf of MP candidate Serhiy Berezenko were filed and signed by his proxy, but not by himself, what is against the law (Article 28(6) of the Law of Ukraine on Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine).

Another reason of such a prolonged meeting of the DEC was slow functioning of the Vybory system, which was to provide lists of nominees for the draw of lots. As a result, the list of candidates to the membership of PECs was formed at nearly 1 a.m. with the following results: total number of processed nomination documents – 9,834; rejected nominees – 361; number of nominees allowed to participate in the draw – 9,473; the highest number of nominees per precinct – 113. Thus, the draw had started at around 2 a.m. and continued till 5 a.m.

In order to secure correct understanding and consistent application of electoral legislation by all district election commissions, the CEC established a Procedure for the draw of lots conducted to select members of precinct election commissions for the Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine[1].

The DEC compiled nominee lists for every precinct election commission to select PEC members through the draw of lots. This list was arranged in an alphabetical order, and candidates received sequence numbers with surnames, names, patronymic, and nominating entity included. There was also a separate column in the list to fill in the result of the draw opposite to a name of a nominee.

There were 113 lots (envelopes), the number equal to the largest number of candidates for the membership of precinct election commissions. A transparent drum was used to draw lots. None of the present had examined the drum and there were no comments concerning the drum or lots.

The DEC has authorized its member Serhii Vasyliovych Solomakha (Radical Party of Oleh Liashko) to record the results. The lots were put into the drum and drew from it by a representative of technical personnel. Two members of DECs – Mykola Mykhailovych Hryshynak (Bloc of Left-Wing Forces of Ukraine political party) and Serhii Anatoliiovych Zharko (Ukrainian Civil Movement political party) were processing results of the draw.

Before the draw of lots, the Chairman had failed to announce the maximum membership of each precinct election commission, the number of nominees subject to mandatory inclusion, and the number of places to be distributed through the draw of lots, what is against the Law requirements.

Besides that, the Chairman of DEC meeting has violated the procedure when he failed to announce the appointed and selected members of each PEC. Thus, PEC memberships were formed in DEC office during the break.

According to the results of the draw, 114 of 127 MP candidates nominated in single-member district #205 have received representatives in PECs. Taking into consideration the record-breaking number of registered candidates, each of them has received representatives only in 9 PECs (of 83) in average. Self-nominated candidates Larysa Ananieva and Liubov Nikolaienko have received the largest number of representatives in PECs (18 and 17 members respectively). At the same time, 13 candidates haven't received any representatives at all.

The procedure for distributing managerial positions among each entity nominating candidates to precinct election commissions was established by district election commissions pursuant to Resolution of the CEC # 80 of 04/18/2013. According to the Resolution, each entity nominating PEC members has the right for a proportional share of each category of managerial positions in precinct election commissions (heads, deputy heads, and commission secretaries) according to their size: small, average, and large. Such share was determined by the proportion of members appointed by a nominating entity to election commissions (small, average, and large separately) of each regular and special election precincts to the total number of persons appointed to precinct election commissions in the corresponding category of election precincts. To summarize, OPORA's observers haven't noticed any considerable violations on this stage, but PEC managerial positions were distributed in a non-public manner in working groups.

DEC member Serhii Vasyliovych Solomakha (Radical Party of Oleh Liashko) refused to vote for adoption of the resolution on results of the draw, who is convinced that PECs were formed contrary to the Law requirements.

Table "Representatives of candidates in PECs, district #205":

[1] CEC Resolution #88 of 4/25/2013 on the Procedure for the Draw of Lots Conducted to Select Members of Precinct Election Commissions for the Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine