The National Police are to issue notices of suspicion for suspects in a vote buying scheme before the April 21 run-off in the presidential election, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on April 11.
President Petro Poroshenko’s campaign has denied the existence of the alleged scheme, which is being investigated by the police.
Avakov said that vote buying attempts were continuing in the run-up to the second round of the election. He said that an investigation into vote buying in favor of Poroshenko in the town of Vasylkiv in Kyiv Oblast was continuing.
The National Police said on April 11 that it had uncovered vote buying in Chernihiv and Volyn oblasts “in favor of presidential candidate P.” between the first and second rounds of the election – an apparent reference to Poroshenko. The police published photos of cash allegedly used for vote buying.
Chernihiv Oblast police said that it had summoned Bloc of Petro Poroshenko lawmaker Serhiy Berezenko for questioning in connection with an alleged vote buying scheme. Berezenko denied accusations of vote buying.
The police also said they had seized Hr 700,000 in a vote buying scheme in Volyn Oblast.
Meanwhile, former Odesa Oblast Governor Maksym Stepanov said on channel 1+1 late on April 11 that he had decided to delay local government payments in the region until after the run-off to prevent the use of government funds for vote buying in favor of Poroshenko.
Stepanov was dismissed by the cabinet at Poroshenko’s request on April 10. He attributed his dismissal to his refusal to participate in the alleged vote buying scheme and his failure to achieve the desired result in the presidential election for Poroshenko.
Poroshenko said on Channel 1+1 he had not been aware that Stepanov had delayed the payments.
“If I had known, I would have fired him earlier, because the government’s function is to ensure citizens’ welfare,” he said.
A Rating Group poll published on April 11 concluded that in the first round of the elections 8 percent of voters had witnessed vote buying first-hand and 9 percent had heard about it from their relatives and friends.
In February Avakov, who is reportedly in conflict with Poroshenko, alleged that the Poroshenko campaign was running a nationwide vote-buying scheme. Avakov claimed the scheme involved 200,000 paid campaign workers, was expected to reach from 700,000 to 6 million voters, and would cost some $56 million.
Avakov said that voters identified as loyal to Poroshenko were asked by campaign workers to fill in applications for government subsidies.
