Difficulties foreseen for May 25 presidential elections

“The election process is ongoing and there are no laws to stop it,” says Andriy Mahera, deputy head of the Central Elections Committee (CEC), as cited by KyvPost on April 25. “If the process of voting does not happen in some constituencies it will not affect the validity of election, and cannot prevent the Central Election Commission from counting the results and the newly elected president from taking an oath.”

Oleksandr Chernenko, the head of election watchdog Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU), says that the only thing that can prevent the election from happening is if the government declares a state of war. But various government officials have said that will not happen.

The presidential election will also coincide with some 270 snap local elections as well as a by-election of lawmakers in Ivano-Frankivsk city, the CEC said.

Experts say that odds of holding a referendum on raising the status of the Russian language or amending Ukraine’s constitution on the same day are low due to the shortage of time for preparation and absence of laws that would regulate some procedures, KyivPost wrote.

Elections are also at risk in some parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are home to a whopping 5.2 million voters.The two most troublesome electoral districts in mainland Ukraine are in the cities of Donetsk and Sloviansk. District election commissions have failed to assemble there because they face intimidation, and sometimes violence, from the Kremlin-backed separatists who control those territories.

“We will take all the necessary measures so that the elections in the southeast don’t happen,” Vyacheslav Ponomariov, leader of separatists in Sloviansk, told Russia’s Gazeta.ru on April 23. But Mahera said that the two district commissions have time until May 6 to start their work. He did not, however, dare to predict how many polling stations would be disrupted. But under Ukrainian law, it won’t really matter.

“If at least one polling station in Ukraine holds the elections, they will be considered legitimate,” Chernenko says, referring to Ukraine’s law on elections.

Mahera believes that despite all the troubles, voter turnout will be at least on par with previous elections, or 70 percent. “In the west the turnout could be much bigger given the rise in patriotic sentiment, while in the east it will probably be lower,” he said.Polls indicate his expectations are right. They show that some 85 percent of Ukrainians are going toattendMay 25elections.