Parties spend over Hr 600 million on elections, according to report

The political parties that ran for the Ukrainian parliament in 2012 spent more than Hr 600 million on the election campaign in multi-member constituencies, the Central Election Commission of Ukraine (CEC) has said, referring to the parties' official reports.

In particular, the Regions Party spent Hr 218 million, the Batkivschyna United Opposition – Hr 107 million, and Vitali Klitschko's UDAR Party – Hr 33.7 million.

The Regions Party spent Hr 157 million on advertizing in the media, Hr 33 million on outdoor advertizing, and Hr 23 million on agitation materials.

Batkivschyna spend Hr 94 million on advertizing in the media, Hr 9.5 million on outdoor advertizing, and Hr 3.2 million on production and distribution of agitation materials.

According to the official reports, the Communist Party of Ukraine spent Hr 72 million on the election campaign, the Our Ukraine Party – Hr 63 million, and Natalia Korolevska's Ukraine-Forward! Party – Hr 60.6 million.

The CEC also said that 445 people's deputies were elected under party lists and in single-seat constituencies – 185 from the Regions Party, 101 from Batkivschyna, 40 from UDAR, 37 from the Svoboda All-Ukrainian Union, 32 from the Communist Party, three from the Yedyny Tsentr Party, two from the People's Party, one from the Soyuz Party, one from Oleh Liashko's Radica Party, and 43 self-nominated candidates.

The CEC also said it was impossible to determine the results of the parliamentary elections in five single-seat constituencies.

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, recommended the CEC to call repeated elections in the following constituencies: No. 94 in Obukhiv (Kyiv region), No 132 in Pervomaisk (Mykolaiv region), No. 194 and 197 in Cherkasy region, and No, 225 in Shevchenkivsky district of Kyiv.