An uninspiring election campaign contributed to an expected low voter turnout as Kyivans on Oct. 25 voted to elect a mayor and members of the 120-seat Kyiv City Council.
Many Kyivans have little hope that local elections would change their lives for better, but didn’t ignore the elections as the voter turnout exceeds 35 percent as of 6 p.m.
Roman Pashkovsky, an observer at one of the polling stations in the central Pechersk district in Kyiv, said he expected more people to participate.
“It’s not the first time for me as an observer, but the 2014 parliamentary elections were much more active,” Pashkovsky told the Kyiv Post. “People are slow today.”
Taras Berezovets, a political analyst and a head of Berta Communications consulting firm, says there are three reasons of the low turnout.
“First of all, local elections usually have less interest among voters,” the analyst says. “Second – this campaign has become the most dull and unimpressive over the recent years,” Berezovets said, adding that the presence of the former of Party of Regions members on the lists of the democratic parties did not meet the wishes of Ukrainians. Berezovets is certain this time the main parties did not catch the “key trend” – society’s request for “renewal.”
Exit polls made by Social Monitoring Center NGO and commissioned by the Committee of Voters of Ukraine watchdog, show that Kyivans give another chance to incumbent mayor Vitali Klitschko, as 40.4 percent of Kyivans voted for him.
Raisa Kompan, a native Kyivan, is certain the citizens “must take part in the elections, as we’re the ones who live in the city and it’s up to us to decide.”
Kompan said she voted for Klitschko as she doesn’t see “any other strong candidate.”
“But now (his team) need to work really fast to deliver results,” she added. Her husband, Yaroslav Kompan, says all they have is “hope” that the city will change for the best.
Klitschko said during the press conference in Kyiv he’s satisfied with the preliminary results, adding that it shows “a great trust from Kyiv residents.”
“According to exit poll, I got 40 percent. It’s not a bad result,” Klitschko said. “It would be nice if there was a victory in the first round, as it would have saved a lot of public money. But we will continue to make changes in the city and give example for other cities.”
Among Klitschko’s 28 competitors, Volodymyr Bondarenko, the former head of Kyiv City administration and member of Batkivshchyna Party gained 8.7 percent of votes, while former Kyiv mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko takes the third place in the mayoral race, according to the Social Monitoring Center. Some 12,722 respondents were interviewed, while the refusal rate was 26.3 percent. Margin error for top positions does not exceed 2.5 percent.
As no candidate gets 50 percent of votes, a second round with two most successful candidates will be held on Nov. 15, Central Election Commission reports.
Some 222 violations were reported during the Election Day in Kyiv, according to Opora elections watchdog. There were cases about bribery of voters, illegal political advertisement and the agitation near the election commissions, according to Volodymyr Bondarenko, who heads Kyiv state administration.
For Serhiy Ilnytsky, an observer at the polling station №800520 in Kyiv’s Obolon district, the morning was busy.
At around 9 a.m. Ilnytsky noticed that a member of the election commission from the Batkivshchyna party handed out ballots to voters without taking their signatures.
“I noticed the violation when I looked through the list of voters. There were no signatures so that another person could come and get an extra ballot. In this manner he managed to distribute at least 10 ballots,” Ilnytsky told the Kyiv Post.
Observers called the police immediately. “If he is charged and found guilty he may face up to seven years in jail,” Ilnytsky added.
City council elections are held under the proportional system. Parties need to gain at least 5 percent of the votes to be elected.
Last time the local elections in Ukraine where held in 2010 when former President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions and its allies won the majority of votes to region and city councils in all Ukraine’s oblasts except for its western part.
Kyiv Post staff writers Nataliya Trach and Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected]
