Chernihiv: Local Elections 2015: Intermediate Observation Results in Chernihiv Oblast
On October 6, 2015, a press conference of the OPORA Civic Network was held at the Discussion Club “Expert Thought”, dedicated to monitoring the election of deputies of regional, district, city, village and settlement councils, city, settlement, village heads.
During the event, the coordinator of the election programs of the OPORA Civic Network in the Chernihiv region, Yevgeny Romanenko published the interim results of the analysis of the situation in the Chernihiv region, compliance with electoral legislation and public election monitoring.
The total course of the election campaign.
The beginning of the election campaign was marked by a smooth flow of parliamentary elections to the 205th district in the local, as there were many agitation products of some political forces (“UDAR”, “Freedom”).
The candidates began their electoral activity with numerous greetings of residents of the cities of the region with holidays on billboards, actively trying to remember the voters.
The concentration of agitation activity was observed mainly in the cities of Chernihiv, Nizhyn and Pryluky, in particular, external political advertising and media agitation prevailed. The most activity was the political forces “Our Land”, the Agrarian Party of Ukraine, the Batkivshchyna, the Opposition Bloc, “Solidarity” by Petro Poroshenko Bloc.
In general, the first month of local elections in Chernihiv was characterized by low activity of parties and candidates. The election process was passionately, without mass violations, scandals.
In late September – early October, the support recorded a significant increase in the activity of parties and candidates: the scale of agitation increased, new forms of work with voters began to apply. However, the number of violations of electoral legislation increased.
Activity of territorial election commissions.
All TECs in the region were created on time, the first meetings were held within the time limit set by law. According to the observations of the support of the commission, they work mainly without violations, calmly, perform all the stages of the election process specified by law on time.
Territorial election commissions operate openly without preventing participation in journalists or observers and at request by providing copies of protocols. The facts of the influence of outsiders on the work of TEC and their decisions were not revealed.
Commission rotations are not massive and not systematic. However, there is a problem of qualification of TEC members. Periodically observers of the OPORA Civic Network face situations where members of commissions are not oriented in electoral law. In particular, such situations arose when registering with TECs of official OPORA observers (candidates and observers are reported, require copies of registration, copies of the certificate of registration of the organization). However, they managed to settle, the rights of observers were not violated. The exercises conducted should at least partially remove this problem.
Party conferences, nomination and registration of candidates.
The party meetings held in the Chernihiv region were mostly calm, in the usual format, in compliance with normatively defined procedures.
On September 22, the long -term observer of the OPORA Civic Network was not admitted to the conference of the Nizhyn district branch of the Agrarian Party, not giving a meaningful explanation. The highlight of the party meetings in Chernihiv was holding a conference of the Pryluky city organization of Batkivshchyna, which had a religious shade. In addition, the mayor of the mayor from Batkivshchyna became known two days before its official presentation (even members of the party organization).
Refusal of registration has been recorded in:
– Minsk District Election Commission – refused to register a candidate from the UKROP party under the district election commission, which was registered and as a self -nominated person for the post of village head. Career;
– Novgorod-Siversky City Election Commission- refused to register a candidate from the Radical Party Oleg Lyashko, who was registered and as a self-nominated person for the post of village head. Cap;
– Chernihiv City Election Commission – refused to register 3 candidates for the post of mayor due to errors in the document.
Formation of districts
Cases of abnormal deviation of the number of voters in territorial constituencies have acquired systemic manifestation Due to the lack of regulation of legislation and the inability to ensure proper control by the CEC.
As a result, in Ukraine as a whole, about half of the territorial constituencies formed for the election of deputies of regional councils have more than 15% of deviation from the average number of voters in the district (permissible on the recommendations of the Venice Commission).
In the Chernihiv region, the largest deviations in the number of voters were recorded in the formation of districts on elections in Kozeletsk and Prylutsk district councils.
Violation
Violations concerning the installation of agitation materials in the prohibited laws were recorded by long -term observers of support in the settlements of the Menky and Bakhmak districts (unification “Our region” indicating the name of the current mayor Alexander Sokolov, from a part of the tents trade was conducted on Lyubetska Street and Masana residential district numerous postcards from the candidate for mayor Sergei Kutsenko).
There are several cases of dirty agitation, black PR and unfair competition:
– in Chernihiv, postcards of extremely abusive content are widespread in relation to the head of the local branch of the Radical Party Oleg Lyashko, a candidate for deputies to the regional council Dmitry Blaush;
– the card of Sergey Kutsenko contains signs of “Black PR” in relation to a specific candidate for mayor of Chernihiv, one of the leaders of election race;
– damage to the boards (in Chernihiv – candidate from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc Vladislav Atroshenko, in Nizhyn – “Opposition Bloc”);
– in the district newspapers (Koryukivska newspaper “Mayak”, Shchors “Ray”, Minsk “Our Word”, Prylutsk “Pryluchanka”, Sosnitskaya “Time”, Novgorod-Siversky “Siverskyi Territory”, etc.) recorded publications on the results Elections. “
In addition, cases of indirect bribery of voters occurred in both regional and district centers (agitation by the director of the educational institution during parental meetings, the use of charitable funds for electoral purposes, the distribution of invitations for children with a free opportunity to ride in urban attractions, use budgetary administration).
Work with law enforcement agencies
In general, the relevant bodies are open to cooperation with journalists and observers. The police are most active in cooperation.
Overall observers who have in contact with the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the district centers note the readiness of law enforcement officers to cooperate and exchange information. The regional coordinator held a meeting with the Head of Public Safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Chernihiv region, participated in the Selector Meeting of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on 24.09.2015.
Despite this, the coordinator of the election programs of the OPORA Civic Network in the Chernihiv region insists on the need for ordinary police officers in more detail in the electoral law, as well as that criminal cases were brought to court.
Therefore,General trendsthe course of local choice in the Chernihiv regionthere areFalm -Start of the election campaign by individual political forces,Exponential deployment of parties and candidates’ activity (repeated parliamentary), active use of electoral charity, which tends to deploy and use new forms, as well as an increase in the number of cases of unfair competition, including black PR, manipulation of public opinion.
For the comments please:
Yevgeny Romanenko
Electoral Programs of OPORA Civic Network Electoral Programs
in the Chernihiv region
068 386 60 54
Parliament monitoring|Website |Facebook|Twitter
( #elections15; #elect_ua; #opora; #support)
Reference:
OPORA Civic Network will conduct public observation of local elections in Ukraine, which will be held on October 25, 2015. Public observation of the support is a field of network activity aimed at an objective assessment of the process of preparation and holding of elections, as well as to prevent the violation of electoral legislation through effectively organized public control. Since September 5, there are 144 long -term observers in all regions of Ukraine, which will join more than 3000 short -term observers on the day of voting.
Formation of districts
Cases of abnormal deviation of the number of voters in territorial constituencies have acquired systemic manifestation Due to the lack of regulation of legislation and the inability to ensure proper control by the CEC.
As a result, in Ukraine as a whole, about half of the territorial constituencies formed for the election of deputies of regional councils have more than 15% of deviation from the average number of voters in the district (permissible on the recommendations of the Venice Commission).
In the Chernihiv region, the largest deviations in the number of voters were recorded in the formation of districts on elections in Kozeletsk and Prylutsk district councils.