At 04:00 - 08:00 PM, OPORA's observers continued monitoring the second round and assessed the adherence to legislation by electoral subjects. At the time polling stations had been closed, we note that PEC members ensured a high level of election administration. Besides that, there were no gross abuses at this stage of the vote, which could have influence on election outcomes. The general statistics and typology of violations recorded by observers are similar to those took place during 25 October 2020 vote over the same period.

 

The key problem at the final stage of the vote was issuing ballots by commission members without verification of documents. Thus, observers detected such cases at 2.31% of PECs. When election participants tolerate situations in which voter identification for the purpose of issuing a ballot is based on informal communication between voters and commission members and their acquaintance (instead of verifying passports of Ukrainian citizens) they courage contempt of the law and irresponsible of the voters themselves. Such attitude may also may bring the hazard of deliberate election fraud using such practices. Such violations were detected at 2.78% of PECs during the vote on 25 October (between 04:00 and 08:00 PM).

Another common problem at the final stage of the second round, similarly to the previous stage, were attempts to disclose the ballot secrecy by photographing the ballot (detected at 1.54% of PECs) or by voting outside the booth or showing the ballot (detected at 1.54% of PECs). Incidents when voters took pictures of their ballots has slightly increased in number, compared to the first round. The same abuses were recorded then at 0.65% of PECs. Such violations are alerting because they can indicate on the use of controlled voting technologies and, therefore, need special attention and response from law enforcement agencies.

In the end of the day, there were isolated cases indicating attempts ballot-box stuffing - observers reported such facts at 0.77% of PECs.

In general, the final hours of the voting process were conflict-free and organized in a way that allowed citizens to fully exercise their right to vote. According to observers, 98.46% of PECs did not have any queues at the time of their closure, primarily due to a low voter turnout and the proper organization of the voting process. According to OPORA's observers, there were no other significant violations that could influence the election outcomes. At the same time, minor procedural violations took place at 10% of polling stations.

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 5.18%. OPORA's statistically based observation is an independent activity, realized exclusively by OPORA, aimed to provide Independent information on the course of election.

From the beginning of the morning meeting and until 08:00 PM, OPORA's observers reported on more than 80 incidents involving violation of electoral legislation. Around 25 offenses were detected from 12:00 to 05:30 PM, and about 7 more from 05:30 to 08:00 PM.

Obstruction of the observation

Commission members at polling station #511188 in the city of Odessa have illegally deprived observer of the right to be present at the meeting via an illegal vote in this regard. The conflict emerged when the commission began to sign letters to be used when election documents are packed. When the observer made a remark, the commission gave him these letters for safekeeping. Then, the observer went outside the polling station when talking to OPORA's lawyer. As a result, the commission held a vote and deprived him of the right to be present at the meeting, justifying decision by the fact that the observer allegedly took electoral documents out of the polling station. We remind that the commission is not entitled to make any decisions from 8:00 to 20:00 while the vote takes place. It can take decisions only at a meeting.

Commission members at polling station #141044 in Kramatorsk, prevented an observer from taking a photo of a ballot box with for voters with respiratory disease symptoms from a distance of less than 10 meters.

Presence of unauthorised persons

The incident took place at polling station #590935 in Sumy, where member of local council was inside of the voting premises. Member of oblast council Ihor Kurylin was present at polling station #70799 in the city of Lutsk. The commission tried to register him, but he didn't show any documents and refused the registration. He also ignored remarks of the observer and left only together with police officers after they were called and approached him.

Director of a nursery, which premises were used to set up polling station #511247 in Odesa, made regular visits, explaining that he was concerned about the property.

Signs of controlled voting

Observers noticed 5 ballots with the same mark "Л" at polling station #511247 in the city of Odesa. Ballots with specific marks “1”, “Ж” were noticed at polling station 511235.

An incident at polling station #511220 in the city of Odessa, where a camera is installed in the polling station, may have features of controlled voting. The camera is not working yet, but the chairman of the election commission said that the camera will stream the vote count for the Opposition Platform - For Life.

Voting without documents

Issuance of a ballot paper without passport verification was detected at polling station #511315, Odesa (a ballot paper was issued to a voter with a foreign passport).

Taking pictures of ballot papers

Ballots were photographed at polling stations #511325, #511247 in the city of Odessa, #681330 in Kamianets-Podilskyi; #650740 in the city of Kherson. A voter at the polling station #320772 in the city of Ukrainka photographed a ballot paper and tore it.

Other:

  • polling stations #511169, #511354, #511169, #511354 in the city of Odesa - voting outside of a ballot booth,
  • polling station #320772 in the city of Ukrainka - an observer representing electoral subject advised the voter on voting;
  • a voter showed the ballot paper to relatives in the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi at polling station #681353; two people entered the booth at polling station #511354 in the city of Odesa;
  • ballots were issued by one commission member at polling stations #680547 and #511370 in the city of Odesa, at polling station #681336 in Kamianets-Podilskyi; and at polling stations #590951 and #590958 in the city of Sumy;
  • the ballot box was sealed during the vote at polling station #511186 in the city of Odesa;
  • a voter at polling station #511398 in Odesa threw a ballot into a mobile ballot box that already contained ballots from citizens who voted at their place of stay. As a result, the number of ballots in the ballot box exceeded the number of voters included in the list to vote at a place of stay. According to the Election Code, these ballots shall be considered invalid. However, the Commission Head believes this ballot paper should be counted separately, together with ballots from stationary ballot boxes, and ballots in the mobile box should be counted as valid;
  • the police received a complaint that a member of the Kamyanets-Podilsky TEC had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and the commission refused to continue working. Although there was no evidence that TEC members had COVID-19, some members refused to continue the meeting. Nevertheless, there were enough members for a quorum.