Video surveillance during parliamentary elections raises many questions
Video surveillance during the October 28 parliamentary elections can be used as a tool to intimidate voters and election commission members, not as a way to ensure the transparency and openness of the elections, said the participants of the press conference “Elections in Ukraine: More than 1000 Violation Reports” held on October 15 in Kyiv. The event was organized by the Vsesvit Civic Methodology and Information Center with support from the International Renaissance Foundation.
According to the experts, international election observers have also expressed concern over the impact of video surveillance on the elections. Professor Erik Herron from the University of Kansas (US) pointed out that during the 2008 presidential elections and 2009 referendum in Azerbaijan, voter turnout at polling stations with video cameras was 8-12% lower than in those without.
The experts also discussed the dynamics of violations of the election law during the last month, referring to data from the Maidan Monitoring: Election-2012 interactive map. According to Viktor Harbar, the project’s coordinator, more than 400 complaints were added to the map last month, bringing the total to more than 1000. The reports include 1875 photos and 230 videos. The largest number of complaints came from Kyiv, followed by the Odesa oblast, the leader a month ago, and then the Kharkiv, Kherson, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Luhansk oblasts.
According to Viktor Harbar most complaints continue to relate to campaign agitation violations. Administrative pressure is second, followed by voter bribery, deception and violation of the principle of equality of participants.
Oleksandr Popov, coordinator of Maidan Alliance, spoke about the Civic Central Election Commission – an initiative of several NGOs from Kyiv, Ternopil and Kharkiv. “We appeal to every citizen of Ukraine who understands the importance of their right to free, democratic and transparent elections to photograph the vote count protocol and email it to the Civic CEC. We will publish it on our map and enter the data into openly accessible tables. This will allow everyone to compare the results in their district with those on the official CEC site. The more people participate, the more reliable our results will be,” he said. “It’s not enough to vote – you must make sure your vote was counted!” the expert stressed.
Contacts:
Vsesvit Civic Methodology and Information Center
Viktor Harbar
+38 050 323 34 83
vybory2012@maidan.org.ua
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Main objective of the International Renaissance Foundation is to provide financial and operational assistance to the development of an open and democratic society in Ukraine by supporting key civic initiatives in this area.
