Batkivschyna Party leader and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has said voters are being bribed with state budget funds and illicit cash.
“For the first time in Ukraine’s history they have decided to bribe people using state budget funds… They are allocating special subventions from the state budget to local budgets. Then, according to prearranged lists, they send people an invitation to receive the money at the mayor’s office or in the governor’s office as financial assistance in the amount of UAH 1,000 [about $37],” she said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.
Tymoshenko called this “bribery with illicit cash.” She said agitators approach people and put their names in databases. Those who have already agreed to vote for the incumbent president first receive UAH 500, half payment for their future vote, and are photographed with the money.
She said photographs are taken in order to frighten the voters.
“This black cash [scheme] is used all over the country,” she said.
In addition, Tymoshenko said the monetization of subsidies is also an attempt to bribe voters.
The Batkivschyna Party leader alleges they are trying to legalize the future bribery and falsification by commissioning sociological surveys.
