Representatives of NGOs that observe and monitor local elections in Ukraine gave an overall assessment of electoral process at their press conference.
Local elections-2010 can not be recognized as fair, transparent and democratic. Efforts were made to prevent a full public control, observers and experts noted.
Olha Ayvazovska, Chairman of the civic network OPORA, concluded that, “Local elections in Ukraine did not meet international standards, and therefore can not be recognized as fair, transparent and democratic. OPORA’s conclusions are based on long-term and short-term observation, evaluation criteria of good practice and principles of elections organization, contained in the documents of the Venice Commission, Copenhagen conference and OSCE.”
Andriy Kohut, Secretary of the Civic Assembly of Ukraine, stressed that, “Organization and conduct of local elections-2010 showed a clear turnaround of political authorities back – to ignoring democratic standards and freedoms. According to assessment of the Civic Assembly of Ukraine, this campaign is the worst for the last five years in regions. Overall assessment of the election (starting with adoption of the Law which greatly narrowed the rights, established certain preferences and limited public control, and ending with the process of setting election results) gives grounds to assert that local elections-2010 did not meet standards of free, honest, fair and transparent elections.”
Ihor Kohut, chair of the board of the Laboratory for Legislative Initiatives, representative of the Network for Support of Reforms, noted that, “Ukrainian democracy turned out to be ‘lame’. Local elections can be assessed as free, but there are grounded concerns as for honesty and fairness. We can not talk about full implementation of democratic standards of elections; moreover, the rollback is evident. Key problems of legislation on local elections, which were mentioned by the Network for Support of Reforms and Civic Assembly of Ukraine, have found manifestations or will have manifestations in coming days. The electoral system, the quality of election commissions, the procedure of counting votes, appeals of the election process – are all matters for more thorough analysis in the near future. It will have meaning only if the Ukrainian society expresses will to quality political changes and intention to learn from mistakes.”
Nataliya Lynnyk from the Committee of Voters of Ukraine said that, “Many articles of the law on local elections do not comply with generally accepted democratic standards; there is an urgent need for the introduction of Electoral Code which would standardize election procedures and facilitate conduct of honest and democratic elections. Stable rules of election conduct would significantly improve their organization and conduct, since members of district election commissions could learn electoral procedures once and for all and improve their skills from election to election.”
According to Olha Ayvazovska, civic network OPORA analyzed local elections for compliance with international standards. The analysis showed that elections did not meet generally accepted standards:
The electoral law was changed less than a year before the election day.
Impartiality of election commissions through their formation on the professional and politically balanced basis was not achieved; therefore some political forces received majority which is enough to pass any decision.
At the stage of registration of candidates, territorial election commissions (TEC) created obstacles to individual candidates or parties.
Most of the actors of election process could contest actions of territorial election commissions in the court, but TEC selectively performed judicial decisions or delayed the process.
State institutions and law enforcement authorities were not sufficiently responsive to the claims of the use of administrative resources, threats and pressure on candidates, physical or moral violence against some actors of election process.
The problem of quality training and lack of strict control over printing of ballots deepened mistrust to the election in general. Copenhagen document clearly states that procedures should ensure reliable protection of ballots and other documents.
A number of organizational procedures were violated on the election day, in particular, the principle of individual and secret voting was violated.
The issue of counting votes is particularly acute in the light of tough and sometimes unhealthy competition between the actors of election process and unbalanced representation of political forces in commissions at various levels. OPORA witnessed numerous cases when seals were taken out from the premises of district election commissions, which is directly prohibited by law, and standalone clarifications of protocols by representatives of district level in the premises of territorial election commissions.
Andriy Kohut noted, that “The public could observe, but efforts were made to prevent a full public control. It is important to understand that even though the election day was relatively calm, the election started with adoption of the Law that significantly narrowed the rights, set certain preferences and limited public control. The election campaign lasted with numerous violations and was characterized by the use of administrative resources, the role of which was practically unnoticed during the last five years, but now observed by all partners of the Civic Assembly of Ukraine. The election lasts until voting results are established, the process of establishing the results showed attempts to manipulate the results and official restrictions of public control. The Assembly recorded numerous cases of illegal removal of observers, even with such wording as “observed too closely” (Odesa); and Kharkiv city election commission will complete counting of votes without observers.”
Civic Assembly of Ukraine, +380 63 628-68-69, +380 63 617-97-05, assembly@gau.org.ua.
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A public press-center “Local elections-2010: facts, violations, trends” was created by NGOs monitoring and observing local elections: Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Civic network OPORA, Network for Support of Reform, Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Civic Assembly of Ukraine. The public press-center “Local elections-2010: facts, violations, trends” is organized by the Civic Assembly of Ukraine, with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.
