The election vote count led to bloodshed in Mykolayiv Oblast’s Pervomaisk, where pro-government and opposition candidates are both claiming victory in district 132.
Police
forces broke into the district election commission in the night on Nov. 2 and
took protocols by force, which led to clashes between the Berkut police special
forces and supporters of the opposition candidate. The police officers tried to
carry the papers to Mykolayiv, but their bus was stopped by five truckloads of
protesters who shouted “disgrace!”
“There are
spots of blood at the entrance of the building (of district election
commission),” a journalist of the local web media NikVesti reported.
The official
results show a slight majority in favor of Vitaliy Travianko (39.97 percent), who
is supported by the ruling pro-presidential Party of Regions and against his
rival, Andriy Kornatsky from imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenok’s Batkivshchyna
Party (39.66 percent).
Travianko
is a deputy head of Mykolayiv Oblast’s administration, while Kornatsky is a
local businessman who owns a big agrarian company Kornatskys’ Agrofarm.
The opposition
claims Kornatsky won the elections. They said that, with 100 percent of the
results counted and sent to the Central Election Commission, Kornatsky was the
winner – until fraudsters switched the names of the winning candidate.
To cover up
the fraud, the police officers were sent to withdraw the protocols and destroy
them, the opposition added. “The eyewitnesses claim that Berkut forces are
destroying the protocols (in a bus),” the press service of the Front Zmin
political party said.
The police claim
they are only carrying out court order to recount the votes in Mykolayiv to
avoid possible fraud.
“By the decision
of the Mykolayiv Regional Administrative Court, the members of election
commission have to carry the protocols of district commission 132 to the regional
center for recount of votes,” the Mykolayiv police press service reported. “The
bailiffs were acting by court decision… the policemen were involved to protect
order,” the report said.
Later, with
the involvement of opposition lawmaker and police general Hennady Moskal, the
protocols were brought back into building of district election commission.
The Central
Election Commission called an urgent meeting today to assess the atrocities in
several single mandate districts.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be
reached at [email protected].
