From 22 April to 11 May, 2014, Odesa oblast office of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine and Civic Network OPORA conducted an observation over activities of Presidential candidates, formation and launch of precinct election commissions in Odesa oblast and local self-government for due conduction of the election campaign.
According to the results of observation, Odesa oblast office of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine and Civic Network OPORA inform:
• On May 1, two participants of the race, Nataliia Korolevska and Oleh Tsariov, have withdrawn their candidacies. Thus, 21 candidates participate in the election campaign. Besides that, Zorian Shkiriak announced that he intends to leave the Presidential race. However, this announcement wasn't fallowed by any legally relevant actions.
• On the beginning of May, a lot of candidates have intensified their campaigning activities. However, 11 candidates still don't conduct any election campaigning in Odesa oblast.
• Candidates do often use the outdoor advertising means (billboards, citylights) and street campaigning (campaigning tents, dissemination of leaflets, newspapers etc.). Campaigning in local media is used less frequently. Only one candidate conducts door-to-door campaigning.
• Coverage of the election campaign in Odesa oblast is not very active, and remains quite balanced. Simultaneously, some printed media contained hidden political advertising of Presidential candidates.
• In Odesa and Odesa oblast, obstruction to campaigning activities was noticed, particularly spoiled outdoor advertising of some candidates.
• One incident of indirect voter bribery and the use of administrative resource in ED #139 (city of Kotovsk) was detected.
• On May 6, the formation of election commissions has finished. The process of nomination to commissions was conflict-free. Five candidates didn't use the right to include their candidates in PECs located in Odesa oblast. Some other Presidential candidates failed to nominate candidates for members of PECs in some districts of this oblast.
• There were some incidents that "doubles" and minors were nominated, or the list of submitted documents wasn't complete. In some incidents, the DECs in oblast ruled that their activities are contrary to the effective legislation.
• During the creation of precinct commissions, district commissions faced lack of candidates for their formation. In all election districts in Odesa oblast, besides Odesa city, a lot of members of PECs were nominated by heads of district election commissions.
• The quotas for managing positions in PECs were determined with the help of a computerized system "Election of the President of Ukraine". The territorial equality of the distribution was kept.
• All PECs in Odesa oblast had the certain complications with the conduction of first meetings due to the absence of quorum. Some commissions conducted their first meetings after the established deadline. In Odesa city, some problems occurred connected to the access to premises of PECs.
• Among individuals who complicated the conduction of first meetings were so-called "dead souls" (people who never agreed to work in election commissions or people who are out of contact), and those who refused to work in PECs due to the lack of competence.
• Another widespread reason to refuse became threat of personal safety for members of PECs after events that occurred on May 2.
• Potential rotations in membership of PEC in Odesa oblast may increase from 30 to 50 percent, what will definitely influence the quality of their work.
• In Odesa oblast, a lot of PECs transferred the voter lists after the deadline – May 8. Besides that, a lot of precinct election commissions are still not functioning: polling stations are closed. Such situation violates the voters' right to study the voter lists.
• The situation with material and technical support is threatening: none of polling stations, which observers of the CVU and the Civil Network OPORA visited, was equipped in accordance with standards, established by the CEC. Besides that, district election commissions still lack some equipment.
Withdrawal of candidacies
1 May is the deadline for candidates who want to withdraw their candidacies from the electoral race. O. Tsariov and N. Korolevska have already withdrawn their candidacies. In result, 21 Presidential candidates will participate in the race. Besides that, Zorian Shkiriak announced that he intends to leave the Presidential race. However, this announcement wasn't fallowed by any legally relevant actions.
Election campaigning
In April 2014, campaigning in Odesa oblast had the certain peculiarities:
1. In general, candidates started actively campaigning. However, candidates Yu. Boiko, O. Klymenko, R. Kuzmin, V. Kuibida, M. Malomuzh, V. Rabinovych, V. Saranov, V. Tsushko, Z. Shkiriak, D. Yarosh, P. Symonenko are still passive in canvassing.
2. The most widespread forms of campaigning in Odesa oblast are: outdoor campaigning (billboards, citylights) and street campaigning (tents, dissemination of printed campaigning materials on streets). Besides that, campaigning in the media is also conducted: political advertising on local radio, TV, banners on online media resources.
Campaigners are active mostly in Odesa city and cities of oblast significance.
Candidates use the following forms of campaigning:
M. Dobkin - outdoor campaigning (billboards, citylights), local media advertising (radio, TV).
S. Tihipko - outdoor campaigning (billboards), local media advertising (radio, TV, banners on online media resources).
Yu. Tymoshenko - street campaigning (campaigning tents, "inquiries", dissemination of printed campaigning materials, including newspapers), door-to-door campaigning.
P. Poroshenko - outdoor campaigning (billboards), street campaigning (dissemination of campaigning newspapers), in mass media (local radio).
O. Bohomolets - street (dissemination of leaflets).
A. Hrytsenko - street (campaigning tents disseminating campaigning newspapers).
V. Konovaliuk - outdoor campaigning (billboards).
O. Liashko - outdoor campaigning (billboards).
O. Tiahnybok - street campaigning (dissemination of campaigning newspapers).
3. After tragic events of May 2 in Odesa, candidates Yu. Tymoshenko, P. Poroshenko, and S. Tihipko visited the city.
4. Sociological inquiries, conducted on behalf of Yu. Tymoshenko, is quite atypical form of campaigning. This "inquiry" contains manipulative questions concerning voter awareness of the candidate's position regarding the status of Russian language, and regarding his consent/non-consent to the removal of Yu. Tymoshenko's candidacy in exchange to the creation of "National resistance headquarters". Besides that, the people willing to join the "Resistance movement" may register in campaigning tents.
5. Similarly to previous months, mass media in Odesa obast quite passively covers the Presidential race. Simultaneously, some printed media contained hidden political advertising of candidates S. Tihipko and Yu. Tymoshenko.
Violation of campaigning rules, indirect voter bribery, the use of administrative resource
1. In Odesa and Odesa oblast, obstruction to campaigning activities was noticed. In particular, outdoor campaigning materials of M. Dobkin are often damaged (mostly lettering or splashes of paint); outdoor campaigning of O. Liashko was also noticed damaged, but rarely.
During events of 2 May in Odesa, Dobkin's citylights on Pushkinska street were completely destroyed.
In raions of Odesa oblast, outdoor campaigning of M. Dobkin is also sometimes damaged.
2. One incident of indirect voter bribery and the use of administrative resource were noticed.
In election district #139 (Kotovsk city), on 5 May, 25 children received free tickets to the "Lermontovskyi" health resort on behalf of P. Poroshenko, who assisted financially. Besides that, representatives of the Department of Family Affairs and Youth in Kotovsk City Council actively participated in the organization of this event.
Formation and launch of precinct election commissions
From 2 to 6 May inclusive, district election commissions in the oblast were to form precinct election commissions for Presidential election in Ukraine. On 7 and 8 May, created PECs were to conduct their first meetings and take and oath. Besides that, on 8 May, the formed PECs were to receive preliminary voter lists in State Voter Register maintenance bodies, and secure their availability for voters' attention at polling stations on 9 May.
1. The nomination of candidates for membership in precinct commissions in the oblast was conflict-free. On 1 May, all district election commissions stopped receiving documents filed for the nomination of members. Formation of PECs in all district election commissions continued till 6 May inclusive. The quorum was on all the meetings. The decisions were taken by the majority.
2. Not all the candidates used the right to nominate their representatives to membership of PECs in Odesa oblast. The following 5 candidates failed to submit their representatives for inclusion in precinct commissions: A. Hrynenko, V. Konovaliuk, V. Rabinovych, V. Saranov, D. Yarosh.
It should be mentioned, that Andrii Hrynenko and Valerii Konovaliuk didn't nominate their representatives to the membership of district election commissions in Odesa oblast.
Besides these five, some candidates nominated their representatives only in some precinct commissions of districts, particularly:
- District #139 has no representatives of Yu. Boiko, O. Liashko;
- District #140 - O. Bohomolets, Yu. Boiko, O. Liashko;
- District #141 - O. Bohomolets, Yu. Boiko, O. Liashko;
- District #142 - O. Bohomolets, Yu. Boiko, O. Klymenko;
- District #143 - Yu. Boiko, A. Hrytsenko, O. Klymenko, O. Liashko;
- District #144 - O. Bohomolets, Yu. Boiko, O. Klymenko, O. Liashko;
- District #145 - Yu. Boiko, O. Liashko.
3. Most of filed documents were duly prepared; observers didn't notice any mass rejection of candidacies in Odesa oblast. However, there were rare incidents in all districts, when documents for so-called "doubles' were filed (individuals, nominated from some candidates at once), or when the list of necessary submitted documents wasn't full (no copies of passports). Besides that, some nominees haven't reached 18 years old yet (don't have voting rights).
Simultaneously, not all district election commissions rejected such candidates:
- The DEC #135 (Kyiv raion, Odesa) called candidates for members of PEC, who agreed to represent some Presidential candidates in the PEC, and included them to the membership of PEC from one of the candidates.
- The DEC #142 (city of Biliaivka) had rejected the nominees-"doubles", according to the advice of the CEC, but later they were included to the PECs, where candidates failed to nominate the minimum number of members (12).
- having detected "doubles" nominated simultaneously by A. Hrytsenko and M. Malomuzh, the DEC #145 (city of Izmail) took a decision to register this person as a representative of A. Hrytsenko, as long as his proxy brought the documents first.
4. During the creation of precinct commissions, district commissions faced lack of candidates for their formation. The minimal number of nominated candidates wasn't introduced in all the districts of Odesa oblast (besides Odesa city, where such incidents occurred rather rarely). Therefore, heads of commissions nominated a lot of candidates for members of PECs themselves.
- DEC #139 - 686 candidates included (approximately 3 candidates to each PEC to form the minimal membership);
- DEC #140 - 307 candidates included (approximately 1-2 candidates to each PEC to form the minimal membership);
- DEC #141 - 191 candidates included;
- DEC #142 - 123 candidates included (nearly 8% of all members of PECs in the district);
- DEC #143 - 240 candidates included;
- DEC #144 - 161 candidates included;
- DEC #145 - 70 candidates included.
5. All DECs of Odesa oblast used the "Election of the President of Ukraine" system to determine the quotas of managing positions distributed among candidates in all polls. The DEC #140 started distributing "by hand", but then moved to the automatized method after the system started working properly. The approximate territorial equability was kept in all districts of Odesa oblast.
- There were some conflicts and misunderstandings in DECs, mostly because some members of district commissions and proxies/official observers of candidates were trying to influence the distribution of managing positions.
- In the DEC #136, proxies of candidates Yu. Tymoshenko and P. Symonenko quarreled for a long time because they both wanted to receive the certain number of their representatives holding managing positions. Such interest was also demonstrated by members of district commission from the abovementioned candidates.
- The DEC #137 determined quotas for every candidate with the help of the "Election of the President of Ukraine" information and analytical system, and, after that, every member of the DEC searched the most experienced candidacies among those submitted from candidates which they represent to appoint them to managing positions.
- In the DEC #138, a conflict appeared during the formation of PECs: some commission members demanded that "requests of their candidates" were taken in consideration during the allocation of managing positions (commission members representing O. Liashko, Yu. Tymoshenko, M. Dobkin, and O. Bohomolets). Besides that, commission member from M. Dobkin demanded to conduct the additional draw in order to adhere to the principle of equal territorial division of managing positions.
6. All PECs in Odesa oblast had the certain complications with the conduction of first meetings, particularly: the absence of quorum on meetings, or their conduction after the 8th of May.
- In Odesa city, the following PECs didn't manage to conduct meetings timely: 2 PECs in electoral district #135 (Kyiv district of Odesa city), 2 PECs in electoral district #136 (Malynovskyi district), 3 PECs in electoral district #137 (Prymorskyi district), and 5 PECs in electoral district #138 (Suvorovskyi district). In electoral district #137 (Prymorskyi district of Odesa city), some PECs conducted their meetings despite there was no quorum.
- In electoral district #139 (city of Kotovsk), a considerable number of commissions failed to conduct the meeting till the deadline established by the Law.
- In electoral district #140 (city of Ananiev), nearly 10% of PECs failed to conduct first meetings in time.
- In electoral district #144 (city of Artsyz), more than 10% of PECs failed to conduct the meetings within the established time constraints.
- In electoral district #145 (city of Izmail), nearly 10% of PECs didn't manage to conduct first meetings.
- In electoral district #141 (city of Ivanivka), #142 (Biliaivka), and #143 (Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi), all the PECs conducted the first meetings within the established time constraints.
Problems with the conduction of first meetings emerged because some commission members refused to fulfill their duties, and there were so-called "dead souls", i.e. individuals who are out of contact, or who didn't know that they were included in membership of precinct election commissions.
In Odesa city, the most widespread reason for such refusals was the absence of competence and threat of personal safety after events that occurred on May 2.
Personal rotations in precinct commissions of Odesa oblast may reach 30-50%, what can affect the quality of their work.
Besides that, there were some incidents in Odesa were connected to the access to premises which were provided for the creation of precinct commissions, including special polls. In particular, such problems appeared in the Maternity Home #7 and Tuberculosis Hospital #1, located in electoral district #135 (Kyivskyi district of Odesa city). In district #137 (Prymorskyi district of Odesa city), there were problems with access to the polling station located in premises of the International Humanitarian University. Employees of the Maternity Home #7, didn't even know that a precinct election commission was to be functioning in its premises.
On 7 and 8 May, all the PECs received preliminary voter lists and started implementing their duties, including the securing of open access to voter lists.
Unfortunately, preliminary voter lists wasn't delivered to a number of election districts in Odesa oblast till the deadline established by the law. Besides that, a lot of precinct election commissions don't function at all.
- In particular, all precinct commissions in Odesa city received voter lists in time - till 8 May. However, a lot of polls in electoral district #137 (Prymorskyi district of Odesa city) haven't started functioning.
- In electoral district #139 (city of Kotovsk), the PECs received voter lists only on 10 May, and many polls haven't started functioning.
- In district #140 (city of Ananiev), the PECs received voter lists only on 9 May.
- In district #141 (city of Ivanivka), many polls haven't started functioning. The PECs received voter lists on 8 May.
- In district #144 (city of Artsyz), despite the voter lists were received within the time constraints established by the law, many polls haven't started functioning yet.
- In district #145 (city of Izmail), delivery of the voter lists started within the time constraints established by the law, but continued on 9 May. Polls haven't started functioning.
Odesa oblast office of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine AUNGO emphasizes that such situation with precinct commissions is inadmissible, and directly threatens the implementation of voter rights, particularly on free access to preliminary voter lists. The situation is even worsened by the fact that the voters have only one week to study the voter lists! After 19 May, the voter lists can be amended only by the court decision, and can't be amended on the Election Day. at all!
Material and technical support of commissions
Material and technical support of district and precinct commissions should be also mentioned.
In Odesa oblast, some district election commissions still don't have some means listed in mandatory material and technical support.
All district election commissions in Odesa city (#135, 136, 137, 138) still don't have signboards.
District election commission #136 lacks a car and 1 phone.
District election commission #138 lacks a car and 2 phones.
District election commission #141 lacks emergency light.
Besides that, all polling stations in Odesa oblast, visited by observers of the CVU and Civil Network OPORA, were not provided with everything necessary for their functioning.
Odesa oblast office of the CVU emphasized that material and technical support, premises, equipment, furniture, and communication means shall be provided by local government bodies and, therefore, NGOs called them to secure district and precinct election commissions with all the necessary for their functioning as soon as it's possible.
The report is prepared by Odesa oblast office of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine AUNGO, within the national observation campaign, implemented by the Civil Network OPORA.
(048) 716-40-18
Reference:
Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA - is a type of network activity, aimed at impartial assessment of the preparation and conduct of elections, as well as preventing electoral violations through comprehensive civic action. Since March, OPORA conducts a wide observation campaign during snap Presidential election, interim Parliamentary elections (district #83), and special local elections. The organization cooperates with 175 long-term observers, who are watching the course of election campaign in all Ukrainian regions. On the Election Day on May 25, 3,000 activists will join them to conduct the parallel vote tabulation, based on statistical sample.