The mission of election observers from Canada (Mission Canada) has noted serious violations during the tabulation of the results of Ukraine's parliamentary elections, which raises doubts about the integrity of the results in several districts.
“We now note that the process of vote tabulation has been marred by serious violations, which raises doubts about the integrity of the results in several districts,” the mission said in a press release issued on Saturday.
The observers noted that in many district election commissions, the tabulation of results has been extraordinarily long. In several constituencies (11, 94, 95, 186, 189, 197, 211, 223) the tabulation was not completed, as of Friday.
The mission said that the process of tabulation in several cases is non-transparent, chaotic, and marred by violations. Observers noted, for example, cases of precinct election commissions’ protocols being corrected on site at the district election commissions without the approval of the required quorum of members, and not back at the precinct election commissions, as well as the cases of unfilled, pre-signed protocols. An alarmingly high number of precinct election commissions’ protocols were sent back to the precinct election commissions for corrections, the mission said.
“Moreover, there are serious problems with manipulation of electronic results, as observed on the CEC website in a significant number of districts. Egregious cases have been noted of results being changed after 100% of polling station results protocols have been submitted by district election commissions, as well as the cases of precinct election commissions with anomalous results. The CEC has stated that they have received falsified electronic transfers of results,” the press release reads.
Mission Canada observers noted cases of pressure and intimidation of both precinct and district election commissions’ members. “This fact, coupled with the intentional delays in tabulation throughout the process, is evidence of attempts to purposefully manipulate results, particularly in competitive races, such as Kyiv city and Kyiv region districts,” the observers said.
“A particularly tense and troubling situation is developing in Mykolaiv region, district election commission No. 132; where special police forces have removed election materials from the district election commission,” the mission said.
Mission Canada is undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. The project is implemented by CANADEM, a non-government organization.
