Elections violations surface, though not significant
17 April 2019
A flow of elections violations reports have surfaced
in the last week ahead of the second-round runoff in the presidential vote
scheduled for Apr. 21. In the first half of the month, the websites of at least
20 district regional administrations – which are the local representative
bodies of the Presidential Administration – have posted the campaign propaganda
of President Poroshenko, the Opora elections monitoring organization reported
on Apr. 16. At least 15 of the 25 district administrations in the Kyiv region
have posted such materials, while such posts were also reported on the sites of
at least five Odesa district administrations. Meanwhile, Poroshenko campaign
workers have called residents of the Kyiv region posing as pollsters, before
revealing themselves to be Poroshenko campaign workers and urging them to vote
for Ukraine’s “European future,” Opora reported on Apr. 16. Meanwhile, police
in the city of Chernihiv said they questioned on Apr. 15 an MP for alleged
involvement in vote-buying after numerous complaints from local residents.
From Zelenskiy’s end, the 1+1 television network plans
to fill its Apr. 20 evening broadcasting schedule with comedy shows and films
featuring the presidential front-runner. Election monitors noted this unusual
broadcasting decision violates an election law forbidding campaigning on the
day before elections. The 1+1 network has been broadcasting Zelenskiy’s
television series, “The Servant of the People,” which has catapulted him to
political stardom. The network is controlled by the Israeli-based Ukrainian
oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, who has allegedly sponsored Zelenskiy’s presidential
campaign.
Zenon Zawada: The violations so far are not serious enough to threaten the
legitimacy of the results of the second-round runoff. Meanwhile, Zelenskiy’s
lead in the polls is so wide that the Poroshenko campaign has realized that any
vote-buying efforts are futile. The elections will likely be held in orderly
fashion and gain the approval of Western observers.
