Press Conference “Adminresurs at the” Black PR service “

Within the framework of the Public Press Center “Local Elections-2010. Facts, violations, trends” October 16, representatives of non-governmental organizations that monitor this year’s local election campaign, told about manipulative technologies and the use of opponents. Appropriate photos and video materials were also demonstrated.

Opening the event, Andriy Kohut, the secretary of the Civic Assembly of Ukraine, said: “As political scientists testify, due to the fact that the conditions of the election campaign are not equal to all participants, political technology is going to the other side and become less significant. Instead, the use of administrative resources is the key – it is the administrative resource that turns into almost the main manipulative technology. ” As an example, he cited a case in Uzhgorod, where in order to reduce the voter’s turnout created sections, which belong to houses at different ends of the city. “And in the election of deputies of the regional council in different districts, there may be 4000 and 30,000 voters in the election of deputies of the regional council. This puts candidates in unequal conditions. “

Olga Aivazovskaya, coordinator of the election programs of GM OPORA, noted that the main target of the administrative resource during the current campaign is not voters (labor collectives, “budget”), but, above all, candidates who are competitors of representatives of pro -government parties. Among the types of administrative resources, the expert noted the intervention of authorities, tax administration and law enforcement in the election process. “Criminal cases are opened on local officials and businessmen, the accounts of the structures of city executive committees are blocked, as a means of pressure is also used by the dismissal of officials,” – said Olga Aivazovskaya. “Today, the main blow is an administrative resource that skillfully combines the provocation and humiliation of the competitor. The position of the voter on the candidate can be shaken if the latter is planted with the accusation of bribery, the opening of a criminal case against him. It is difficult for the voter to understand whether the accusations have a real basis. The campaign is extremely fleeting, so there is no time for weighing “for” and “against”.

Some problems were also recorded when nominating candidates from pro -government parties. In particular, there is information about numerous conflicts in the middle of the Party of Regions about which of the candidates will be a party nominee in a particular region.

A significant number of MPs (from various parliamentary factions), governors and even government members (one of the Deputy Prime Ministers) who head the lists of political forces in elections to local councils look ambiguous in terms of the possibility of using the administrative resource.

“Another problem is the low cost of making ballots (which entails the inability to effectively protect against counterfeiting) and the lack of a single center for their manufacture. This can lead to a large number of false ballots, ”Olga Aivazovskaya warned.

Natalia Linnik, the head of the projects of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, noted that cases of administration of administrative resources are also on the part of the opposition (as a possible example here may be the situation with the mayor of Kamianets-Podilsky, who was deprived of the opportunity to participate in the election as a result of a criminal case). In addition, the expert noted the availability of self-censorship in local media, as well as cases of executing members of election commissions of different levels from “technical parties” (at the TEC level, commission members are purchased for payments in the amount of UAH 800-1000).

According to Gennady Maxaka, the head of the Polissya Fund of International and Regional Studies (Chernihiv), there was a significant increase in the number of custom materials (“jeans”) in the local press in Chernihiv. The fact that in all electoral lists of the region the pro -government party of the regions is in the first place in the electoral lists (a case, characteristic of other areas), seems doubtful.