PACE report: Elections in Ukraine marred by titled playing field and irregularities during vote count
The PACE observation mission believes that the parliamentary campaign in Ukraine was not played on a level playing field, while irregularities in the counting of votes in a number of single-seat constituencies compromised the entire electoral process.
This is stipulated in a final report on the results of parliamentary elections in Ukraine, which was submitted for discussion by the PACE Standing Committee at a meeting in Andorra on Friday.
"The ad hoc committee concluded that the 28 October 2012 parliamentary elections in Ukraine were marred by a non-level playing field which contributed to the dominance of the major economic and financial groups, particularly because of the misuse of administrative resources and a lack of transparency in the financing of the election campaign and of the parties, but also owing to an imbalance in media coverage. The voters had a choice of different parties and a large number of candidates who had been able to register, thus catering for a wide variety of political views," reads the document, which was published on the PACE's Web site.
The report notes that Election Day on October 28 "was quiet."
"The members of the ad hoc committee noted the well-ordered running of the election, finding that, on the whole, the voting and vote-counting operations were conducted in a professional and calm manner," the PACE said.
At the same time, observed noted that the situation had worsened during the calculation of results in a considerable number of majority constituencies, which led to long delays in the counting procedure.
"In this connection, the ad hoc committee expresses its grave concern and considers that these irregularities are liable to vitiate the whole electoral process," reads the report.
The committee also noted other serious problems, in particular, misuse of administrative resources, active participation by regional and local government officials in candidates' meetings, the distribution of fake newspapers containing erroneous or slanderous information about candidates, cases of distribution of material goods to voters, mainly by individual candidates, which could be seen as an indirect form of vote buying, and the presence of so-called "technical" candidates and political parties.
"The ad hoc committee is convinced that these phenomena are unhelpful in terms of building voter confidence in the electoral process," reads the document.
The ad hoc committee regrets that the elections took place against the background of the cases involving former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, two major opposition figures who are currently serving prison sentences.
"In connection with party funding and the financing of the election campaign, the ad hoc committee recalls that during the 2010 presidential election, it voiced its concern about 'the place of money and oligarchies in politics in Ukraine in general and in the election process in particular.' This reality appears to have reached even more alarming proportions during this election campaign. Unfortunately, many Ukrainian citizens are seeing the political 'combat' as a struggle between different clans and their financials interests rather than between competing platforms and ideas," the PACE said.
At the same time, the committee noted the satisfactory work of the Central Election Commission (CEC), noting that the commission held some meetings behind closed doors.
The ad hoc committee considers that the PACE should continue its close cooperation with the Ukrainian parliament and institutions, by means of its monitoring procedure, and with the Venice Commission, in order to resolve the problems noted during the parliamentary elections on 28 October 2012 and to further consolidate the whole electoral process.
Consequently, the ad hoc committee invited the Ukrainian authorities to finally adopt a unified electoral code, preferably before the next elections, and reform the electoral system in order to allow small parties to enjoy some measure of electoral success, in particular by improving regional representation and increasing voters' influence over their representatives in parliament, by adopting a multi-constituency proportional representation system based on open party lists.
The committee also proposed that Ukraine fully implement the recommendations of the PACE and those of GRECO issued in October 2011, in order to reinforce the transparency of political party and election campaign financing, and conduct investigations into all allegations of the misuse of administrative resources and other electoral irregularities, and publish the results of these investigations.
The committee also invited the Ukrainian authorities to conduct effective investigations into the irregularities noted in the single-seat constituencies where the election results had to be cancelled, as well as in other majority constituencies where serious violations of legislation were noted; establish the responsibilities of the authors of these irregularities and any others working behind the scenes, and inform the PACE of the outcome as soon as possible.
It also proposed drawing a clear distinction between the state administrations and the political parties in office, taking the requisite steps to guarantee media pluralism during electoral campaigns, examining the means of simplifying the long, complex vote- and ballot-counting procedures on the day of the election, and organizing training courses for members of the polling stations, particularly in rural areas, in order to improve their command of procedures on election day.
"The Assembly is prepared to assist Ukraine in implementing these important electoral reforms," reads the report.
