The Opposition Bloc claims serious violations have been committed in preparations for early parliamentary elections in Ukraine and demands Dnipropetrovsk regional administration head Ihor Kolomoisky be fired for their organization.
“The government has not provided conditions for millions of voters in southeastern regions of the country to express their will. Open attacks have been arranged on opposition leaders. Opposition activists and members of election commissions have received threats of physical violence. The Dnipropetrovsk Oblast accounts for more than 70 percent of violations, where the authorities openly ignore the law and have in fact declared war on the opposition,” the Opposition Bloc said in a statement on Oct. 23.
Law enforcement agencies have not detained offenders and have not conducted proper investigations to find and punish those responsible, it said.
“The government tried to amend the election law several days before the elections, but, fortunately, they didn’t succeed. A new threat to fair and transparent elections has emerged today, namely, attempts to arrange voting in certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts at gunpoint,” it said.
The Interior Ministry and Kolomoisky have “sent their gunmen supposedly to protect order but in reality to intimidate and blackmail members of elections commissions,” the Opposition Bloc said.
“This has created an atmosphere of tension and fear at polling stations,” it said.
The Opposition Bloc believes the current authorities are fully responsible for discrediting the process and results of the voting and for undermining voters’ trust in the elections.
The Opposition Bloc demands that the president clear the polling stations of paramilitary units and any people with weapons. Elections should not be held at gunpoint. You can’t count votes to the accompaniment of firearm bolt clicks,” it says.
The Opposition Bloc also called on international observers to increase their presence at polling stations in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions and make impartial judgments about the events there.
