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Ukrainian 2019 parliamentary elections: Live updates

ukrainian-snap-parliamentrary-elections-2019
Today, 21 July, is the day of the Ukrainian snap parliamentary elections. The polling stations will be open all over Ukraine from 08:00 EEST until 20:00. As well as Ukrainians will be able to vote in many countries abroad in the consular offices. No polling stations will function in Russia.

22.00

The results of the final exit poll:

  • Servant of the People (Zelenskyy): 44.2%
  • Opposition Platform for Life (Boyko): 11.4%
  • European Solidarity (Poroshenko): 8.8%
  • Fatherland (Tymoshenko): 7.4%
  • Voice (Vakarchuk): 6.5%

20:39

The exit polls forecast only the results of the party-list votes, i.e. how only 225 seats will be distributed in the Verkhovna Rada out of 450. The infographic shows how many seats the five top parties will receive, according to the data of the national exit poll:

Infographic: pravda.com.ua, translated by Euromaidan Press

20:05

National exit poll as of 20:00:

  • Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People – 43.9%
  • Opposition Platform For Life – 11.5%
  • Poroshenko’s European Solidarity – 8.9%
  • Tymoshenko’s Fatherland – 7.6%
  • Varchuk’s Voice – 6.3%

(other parties fail to cross the electoral threshold)

The exit poll by SOCIS/CVU shows similar hierarchy with slightly different figures:


19:48

As of 18:00, the National Police received 1,792 election-related reports. Police opened 44 criminal cases, and drew up 41 reports on administrative offenses (non-criminal misdemeanors).


19:15

The voting will end in less than an hour at 20:00. Various minor incidents occurred at polling stations today, here are some of them:

The National Police received a hoax call about bombs in 14 constituencies in Kharkiv at 14:55. However, the law enforcers didn’t find any explosive devices and opened a criminal case against the “phone terrorist.”

Several more bomb calls claimed that 11 constituencies were mined in Odesa and Odesa Oblast, however, several-minute searches by dog squads found nothing suspicious and the voting process continued.

In the Ukraine-controlled settlement of Zaytseve north of occupied Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast, police recorded transporting voters to the local polling station from the occupied territory.

In Sievierodonetsk, monitors of NGO Opora discovered final protocols filed in and with signatures of the members of the district electoral commission.

At a polling station in Lviv, a woman refused to vote, tore her ballot paper to pieces and ate it:


17:47

The National Police opened 21 criminal cases related to the elections as of 15:00:

  • illegal usage of ballots (12)
  • bribing voters (3)
  • impeding voting (2)
  • terrorism (1)

17:00

As of 16:00, the turnout remains law, 36.47%, as per the SES. The East and Center remain the most active, the West votes less:

Information screen in the CEC showing the turnout by oblasts (translated).

At the previous parliamentary elections in 2014 the turnout as of 16:00 was 40.77%, not much higher than now.


16:31

The voting at the Ukrainian polar station Akademic Vernadskyi in Antarctica started at 08:00 local time (14:00 Kyiv time) and lasted 30 minutes. All 12 members of the Ukrainian polar expedition have cast their votes only for parties since those who vote at foreign constituencies and the persons who have changed their voting place (like IDPs) cannot vote for “majoritarian” deputies.

Photo: uac.gov.ua

14:41

At 13:00 Kyiv time, the first foreign polling station closed in Canberra, Australia (at 20:00 local time). Only 57 voters took part in the election or 4% out of those registered.


14:07

The National Police has registered no serious misdemeanors, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. As of 12:00, 606 election-related complaints and reports were lodged with the police.

13:18

As of 12:00, the turnout is 18,97%, according to the CEC. In central and eastern oblasts the turnout is above 20% (24,14% Kirovohrad Oblast, 23,88% Luhansk, 21,75% Kharkiv etc). Meanwhile, the West votes less: 16,19% Rivne, 15,45% Volyn, 13,66% Lviv etc.


12:15

The police recorded 382 reports on alleged misdeeds related to the electoral process as of 11:00, mostly illegal-campaigning related (115), as well as Hindering the exercise of the right to vote (21), conflicting (12), bribing voters (10), damaging property (7). As well as one bomb call was received in Toretsk, claiming that all 14 constituencies in the city were mined. As of 11:20, all constituencies were open.


10:49

NGO CVU reports that most of the political ads, which are forbidden on the election day, are distributed on behalf of Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People, and of the two successors of Yanukovych’s Party of Region – the Opposition Platform For Life and the Opposition Bloc.

Opening of the polling station in Warsaw this morning:

Swedish Ambassador to Ukraine Martin Hagstrom tells about how Sweden participates in the monitoring of the ongoing Ukrainian elections:


09:04

Members of an electoral commission of the 624th constituency in the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, signed the empty forms of final protocols before the elections started. This could allow to fill in the name of a “winner” be it a majoritarian candidate or a party any time. The police opened a case under Part 4 Article 158 (forging the electoral documents and voting results).


08:47

Voting in Kuwait in the Ukrainian diplomatic mission:

https://twitter.com/UKRinKWT/status/1152813731472125952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The polling stations abroad open at 08:00 according to the local timezone. Thus, the first country to start the voting was Australia (where as of 08:00 Kyiv time the station was opened for 7 hours), here is the video showing the voting in Canberra:


08:20

The polling stations opened.

  • The Supreme Court has satisfied the appeal motion of the CEC to annul the decision of the 6th Court of Appeal that obliged the CEC to register MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko as a parliamentarian candidate. Former Yanukovych’s party’s MP Onyshchenko didn’t reside in Ukraine since 2016, hiding in the EU from prosecution – in 2016, then-President Petro Poroshenko accused Onyshchenko of corruption and the General Prosecutor Office expressed its suspicion in corruption, the Rada stripped Onyschenko’s parliamentary immunity in July 2016, then a court released him on bail. In summer 2016 MP Onyshchenko fled from persecution and was hiding first in Spain and later in Germany until he finally returned to Ukraine after the victory of Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the presidential elections earlier this year.

01:56

The Central Election Commission (CEC) registered 1,719 official observers for the snap elections: 1,602 observers are representatives of 22 international organizations, other 117 are from 12 foreign states.

The new Verkhovna Rada will be formed using the mixed electoral system. This means that one half of the parliament will be elected according to the outcome of the voting for the party lists in a multi-mandate electoral district which includes entire Ukraine and the multi-mandate foreign constituency. The 22 parties participate in the upcoming elections.

Another half will come from the single-mandate (or so-called “majoritarian”) districts, tied to certain 225 geographical areas within Ukraine. Though, 26 constituencies out of the 225 remain suspended due to the Russian occupation of the Crimean peninsula and of the parts of two easternmost Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, together known as the Donbas region.

Therefore, over a score of “majoritarian” deputies won’t be elected once again just as after the previous voting in fall 2014. Thus, instead of 450 deputies, only 424 MPs in total will take office (423 in 2014).

The internally displaces persons (IDPs) who have changed their voting place in advance will participate in the elections, however, they won’t be able to choose a majoritarian candidate.

The latest pre-voting developments are:

  • On the so-called “silence day”, pre-election 20 July when campaigning is prohibited by law, the CVU recorded illegal ads of the candidates in many oblasts, as well as online ads.
  • On 18-19 July, the Committee of the Voters of Ukraine (CVU) – NGO which has been monitoring the electoral activity since the 1990s – recorded the bribery of voters in two constituencies. A candidate in Cherkasy Oblast created a ring, gathering letters of commitment by voters to vote for the candidate in exchange for promised profits from the candidate in future. Meanwhile in Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk Oblast, a candidate gave away so-called “social cards” which, according to him, could be later used to receive legal aid from the candidate free of charge, as well as 1500 UAH ($50) was promised to be wired to each card later.
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