Committee of voters of Ukraine is a non-governmental civic organization which monitors the May 25 elections of the President of Ukraine. On the Election Day on polling stations, district and territorial election commissions and in mobile groups work more then 4000 CVU observers, involved to observation by mobilization campaign “I am an observer!”
Elections in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Donetsk oblast:
According to information of CVU observers as of 8:30, 15 district election commission do not work in Donetsk oblast:
41 ,42,43, 44, 45 Donetsk city
51,52 – Gorlivka
53 – Enakieve
54 – Torez
55 – Shahtarsk
46 – Artemivsk, part of PECs opened polling stations, but do not know what to do in absence of ballot papers.
48 – Kramatorsk
56,57 – Makiivka
60 (Maryanka) – DEC does not work, but some polling stations opened
In 7 districts only part of polling stations has opened and try to organize voting process:
47 district (Oleksandrivka)– only 19 of 114 polling stations have opened.
In two commissions head and secretary resigned, but the commissions decided to continue their work;
49 district (Dobropillya) – in Dobropillya city only 8 polling stations did not open, in Dobropillya rayon — 1 polling station;
50 district (Krasnoarmiysk). In Krasnoarmiysk city 6 polling stations of 55 did not open.
58 district (Mariupol) – only 4 polling stations did not open.
59 district (Mariupol) — 91 polling stations opened, 8 — did not open.
61 district (Volnovakha) – Part of the district polling stations opened, but already in the morning several polling stations (№140803, №140800, №140792) were occupied by DNR (“Donetska Narodna Respublica”) representatives.
62 district (Starobeshevo) – PEC of the district still receive ballot papers. In Amvrosiivka in many PEC premises windows have been broken by unidentified individuals.
In district 46 DEC does not work, but some polling stations have opened and wait for further instructions, because they do not have ballot papers. During preparatory meeting precinct election commission № 140061 in Kalinino village (46 election district) was occupied by DNR representatives, which came into the commissions' premises with weapon. Observer of the Committee of voters of Ukraine was intimidated. The election commission decided to close the polling station. At the moment our observer and the PEC members are safe.
In Dokuchaevsk (61 election district) a group of armed persons occupied polling stations №140803 and №140800. According to the commission members, militants broke into the polling stations and wanted to close it. The terrorists sealed safes where the election documentation is stored. Voting will not take place on these polling stations. It is worth to note that PECs № 140803 and №140800 were fully prepared for conduction of the voting on E-Day.
In those districts, where polling stations have opened, there is quorum and the voting takes place – district 49 (Dobropillya city), districts 58-59 (Mariupol), district №62 (Novoazovsky rayon) – 17 of 23 PECs went to receive ballot papers, district №60 (Velykonovoselkivsky rayon) – polling stations have opened, but there are no ballot papers.
Luhansk oblast
Ballot papers have not been delivered by DEC 113 (Rubizhne). Correspondingly, polling stations of Severedonetsk city did not receive them as well. That is why today, on May 25, none of 50 polling stations for presidential elections did not open.
At 8:10 a group of separatists approached school № 4 of Severodonetsk city, where a polling station № 441188 is located. On their demand the doors were opened, they came into the premises for voting and broke 2 big ballot boxes established there. A school computer was not taken, and furniture was not broken. Before leaving, the separatists told duty women not to open door to anybody.
Four polling stations of DEC-114 did not come to receive ballot papers, and elections have not started there (3 polling stations in Novopskovsk and 1 in Bilovodsky rayon). The PEC commissions worked up to yesterday, the DEC tries to solve the problem. In this case, voting may start later then established time. Polling stations in Stanytsya Luhanska of the same district did not open.
Opening of polling stations
Kyiv city: as a whole polling stations were opened in time an in accordance wth the established procedures. There were only individual cases of late opening. In most cases, late opening was caused by delay in PEC preparatory meeting. As a result, at some poling stations there were long lines: DEC 216 - polling stations №8000307, № 800345; DEC 222 - station № 800644; DEC 220; DEC 214 — polling station 800065 and others.
Kharkiv oblast: most polling stations were opened in time, preparatory meetings were held in quorum. Meeting of №631078 of DEC №178 started the meeting slightly earlier then the time established by the Law ДВК №631078 ТВО№178 (at 7:05). At the same time, situation is not still clear at PEC №631236 of DEC№ 171, where the polling station did not open – representatives of DEC went there to find out the reason.
Dniepropetrovsk oblast: most polling stations were opened in time, quorum is present, delay in openening was not more then 5-10 minutes on average.
Kherson oblast: Despite the fact that most preparatory meetings were held on time and with quorum, delay in opening of some polling stations was registered. In particular, in Kherson city the delay on some polling stations reached 30 minutes, and long lines in some polling stations were caused mainly by slow work on hand out of ballot papers.
Mykolaiv oblast: polling stations were opened in time, but there are some problems with speed of polling stations' work, caused by many voters at the beginning of the polling stations' work. In particular, there is a serious problem at polling station № 480 689 of DEC 134, where situation is complicated by small size of the room.
At DEC №129 starting from 7:00, May 25, changes were made to composition of PECs and certificates, protocols of PEC members were prepared.
All polling stations of Vinnytsya oblast opened in time. At 2 polling stations in Vinnytsya city there were no electricity because of network breakdown. One polling station in Vinnytsya city was left without protection of policeman. At large polling stations there are already lines.
In Ivano-Frankivsk oblast polling stations opened with small delay because of bad organization of commissions' work, provoking harsh reaction from voters. There are lines at the polling station. On the contrary, DEC declared that all polling stations have opened in time.
In territorial election district 84 PEC 260922 – as of 7:30 the polling station is closed, mass media representatives and official observers could not enter the premises. The polling station opened with delay — at 8:20 voters were let in. In TED №84, polling stations 260908 and 260898 did not open in time.
In Sumy oblast polling stations opened in time, voting started at 8:00. Responsibilities are distributed among PEC members. There are no lines at present. As of 8:30 voters are not very active. No violations have been recorded.
In Cherkasy oblast all polling stations opened in time. There were no problems with quorum.
In Ternopil oblast all polling stations opened in time and elections started without violations. At present, there are no lines. At all polling stations policemen provide observation of public order, and in many cases they are joined by representatives of local self-defense. In TED № 169 location of voting of polling station №610295 was changed (Zozulyntsi village of Zalischyky rayon) from building of Public art to local school, because on May 23 roof of Public art building fell down.
In Chernihiv oblast all polling stations were opened without violations. There were no information about not opened polling stations. Voting began in time at all polling stations and is held normally. There was quorum, preparatory meetings held according to established procedures and in time.
In Rivne oblast:
Observers of Rivne CVU registered individual cases of sabotage of preparatory meeting by some PEC members of polling stations 560908, 560953, 560954 (TED № 154).
On all polling stations of Rivne oblast, observed by Rivne CVU, preparatory meetings began in time. Problems were observed at polling station № 560905 (TED № 154).
Some PECs of the oblast could not start voting process in time, established by the law — on 8:00. Delays were registered on polling stations №№ 560905, 560908, 560942 (ТED № 154).
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In Lviv oblast:
All PEC began their work in time, distribution of responsibilities is kept, all persons willing to be present at a meeting were accepted.
TED № 127 (Drohobych), TED № 128 (Stryy) – priests were invited to bless polling stations.
In Chernihiv oblast:
On polling station 741039 in Chernihiv city there was a delay with morning meeting because secretary lost the key from safe. The safe was cut by grinders.
In Kyiv oblast
Opening of polling station №353 was done with 15 minutes delay. One of commission members didn’t allow voters to come in saying that it’s better to go to the open market. Later when the head of commission got involved and voters were allowed, he drove people out of the queue saying that it's too hot in the room.
At polling station №340 all the portraits of local candidates were taken away as commission members believed that this is agitation. On Saturday our observers found at this precinct campaign posters of the candidate Makarov. They were taken off.
At polling station №346 the observer, who is the mother of the head of commission, instructs other observers and doesn't give them the opportunity to move freely. One ballot box was not sealed; it stands as a spare ballot box.
Violations of the rights of observers and media representatives
Official observers and other persons who have right to be present without permission or invitation were allowed not at all polling stations of Rivne oblast. In particular, such cases were recorded at polling stations №№ 560932, 560907 (TED № 154), 560655 (TED № 155).
In Volyn oblast TEC № 23 the deputy head Demchuk Svitlana Serhiivna did not allow journalists of some medias to work in the DEC explaining her actions by saying that these medias are registered by the CEC.
The city of Kyiv: some problems in the organization were observed even before the election day: in particular in the district election commissions № 222 - 223 had problems with handing out certificates to observers.
Kharkiv oblast: at the PEC № 631072 of TED №178 ENEMO Mission representatives were not allowed to be present on the preparatory commission meeting.
Other violations.
In Cherkasy oblast:
At DEC №201 not all the polling stations phoned in time and reported to DEC number of voters in the voters list and in the extract from the register. The DEC as of 08.48 continued calling polling stations to collect relevant data.
At DEC № 197, PEC №711056 observers noted that PEC members make strange marks on the ballots while giving ballots to voters. There are poor voters list, a large number of people and queues, unsuitable and incommodious premises.
In Vinnytsya oblast:
Landline phones of DEC № 12, 17, 18 from 8.00 to 8.20 while collecting information on the opening of polling stations were blocked with calls from unknown call-centres. The information was collected via mobile phones.
In Volyn oblast:
At PEC № 070212 one of members is not allowed to work, stating that Drimosh L.S. was not registered in line with established procedures. However Drimosh L.S. was nominated by the DEC as additional member of the PEC.
At DEC №21 PEC № 070760 the head of the PEC Shevchyk V.M., nominated from the candidate Symonenko P.O., lost a seal on the eve of the Election Day, and the polling station was opened with the hope that the seal will be delivered later after producing duplicate with consent of the CEC.
At DEC №22 PEC №071023 a voter of 1934 year of birth died at polling station.
Dnipropetrovsk oblast: at DEC № 35 since Saturday (and still in progress) the NGO "Insurance Fund "Choice of Ukraine" offers 120 UAH (town of Marganets) and 50 UAH (town of Nikopol) for vote on the proposed candidate in order "for the vote not to be lost and the elections not to be disrupted." The information on in favour of which candidate it’s done is being verified (according to media).
Mykolaiv oblast: TED 134. polling station election commissions members from the Communist party of Ukraine (CPU) allegedly were given instructions not to come, but none of them refused to work.
The city of Kyiv, the city of Kharkiv: there are cases that entire pages in the voters lists are absent.
CVU Press service
