OPORA's observers continue monitoring the compliance of election process with the law in the second round of mayoral election in 7 cities of Ukraine (Lutsk, Odesa, Sumy, Kherson, Kamyanets-Podilskyi, Kramatorsk, Ukrainka).

From 12 to 4 PM, representatives of the organization did not detect any direct falsifications of the vote. However, there were attempts to illegally issue or receive ballots, as well as violations of the secrecy of the ballot by voters themselves at some polling stations.

 

According to OPORA's data, illegal attempts of PEC members to issue ballots to citizens who didn't show their documents for verification, or attempts to vote for another person, were detected at 3.79% of polling stations. The presence of observers during illegal attempts to obtain ballots usually played a vital role in prevention of violations. No such incidents were reported at other polling stations.

Voters demonstrated their marked ballots at 3.03% of PECs. This violation happened in most cases because voters failed to follow the voting procedure in the secret ballot booth.

Attempts to take picture of ballot paper by voters were detected at 3.03% of polling stations covered by the OPORA's observation. As we know from the previous elections, taking pictures of ballots by voters may be a part of illegal control of voters who receive material incentive for their votes.

The voting process from 12 to 4 PM was free from ballot box stuffing. No such incidents have been reported at any polling station.

11.36% of OPORA's observers, deployed to a representative number of polling stations, reported minor irregularities in the voting process during the reporting period. Significant violations that may affect the voting results were detected at 0.76% of polling stations. On the other hand, 87.88% of polling stations did not have any violations that could affect the voting results, according to observers. Such assessments show that conditions for proper completion of the second round are present, and there are currently no critical challenges for its legitimacy and democracy.

We would like to state separately that OPORA's observers have detected and verified 75 violations of electoral legislation since the start of PEC activities in the second round of mayoral election. Key violations included inadequate provision of polling stations, including violations of the Election Code and the Government's anti-epidemic measures, non-compliance with the requirement that ballots must be issues by two PEC members, improper storage of ballots, and a number of procedural violations.

OPORA has deployed observers to 133 polling stations, located evenly throughout the country. Before the observation, OPORA held 2 rounds of trainings and special Election Day simulations, involving possible situations and incidents. The observers were deployed based on random stratified sampling. The maximum margin of error for this report is below 5.59%. OPORA's statistically based observation is an independent activity, realized exclusively by OPORA, aimed to provide Independent information on the course of election.