Observers of parliamentary elections in Ukraine from ENEMO speak out against bribing voters

The ENEMO observation mission for parliamentary elections in Ukraine has called on the subjects of the election process to refrain from using illegal methods of campaigning, or using the government apparatus to influence the vote.

"ENEMO observers have received numerous reports of the bribing of voters by various political parties and candidates. Observers could not verify these violations because of their nature. Nevertheless, the number of claims causes serious concern, and ENEMO would like to encourage all political parties to refrain from using illegal methods of campaigning, in particular, the bribery of voters," reads the ENEMO's first interim report for the period from August 5 to September 9, which was presented at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Observers reported cases of the abuse of the government apparatus in regions where local government projects that are funded by local budgets are presented as individual achievements of candidates for MP.

In particular, such cases were registered in Kharkiv regarding candidate Iryna Berezhna, Oleksandr Presman in Odesa and Kostiantyn Hudzenko in Dnipropetrovsk, who are all from the Regions Party, as well as self-nominated candidates Iryna Horina (in Kharkiv), Oleksandr Momot (in Dnipropetrovsk) and Halyna Hereha (in Kyiv).