Elections Without Lies is a fact-checking initiative by Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe in partnership with several Ukrainian media, including the Kyiv Post.
It fact-checks statements by representatives of the highest-polling political parties running in July 21, 2019 parliamentary election. The Kyiv Post translates and republishes these statements.
Check out the fact-checks of the 2019 presidential race here.
European Solidarity
Sofiya Fedyna, No. 5 on the party list
Singer Sofiya Fedyna is No. 5 on the European Solidarity Party list. (Sofiya Fedyna Facebook)
When: June 27, 2019
Where: 1+1 TV Channel
Quote:
Sofiya Fedyna: There are statements these days about cutting army numbers by 100,000, that the military doctors and nurses should be fired; that our troops are taken away from the positions near Stanytsia Luhanska, and that Army FM station does not receive a license to extend broadcasting in the [zone] of the Joined Forces Operation. It is a huge danger for the state at a time when the (so- called) “Moscow federation” has its troops on the border.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman: Let us clarify something. You mentioned army numbers will cut by 100,000. Where did you hear that?
Sofiya Fedyna: It was Servant of the People statement.
Groysman: Which servant of the people?
Fedyna: Party representatives’ statement.
Fact-check
- Volunteer Roman Donik mentioned army cuts in his blog. Ministry of Defense told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that this information is not true.
- On June 21, Oksana Korchynska, a lawmaker with Oleh Lyashko Radical Party, said in the Verkhovna Rada about the reduction of more than a 1,000 of medical positions in military hospitals. In response to a request from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Ministry of Defense responded there would be no reduction in medical staff.
- On June 26, Ukrainian troops left one of the positions in front of the checkpoint in Stanytsia Luhanska, according to Minsk peace agreements. On June 30, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission stated that Russian-backed militants had officially announced the withdrawal of their forces from Stanytsia Luhanska.
- The license for Army FM radio broadcasting in the Donbas was about to expire in July-August. However, on July 4, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council held a meeting in the last two months and extended the radio’s broadcasting license.
Opposition Platform Za Zhittya (For Life)
Vadym Rabinovych, No. 2 on the party list
Vadym Rabynovych, head of the Za Zhyttia (For Life) party (R) and lawmaker from the 43-member Opposition Bloc, stands in the Verkhovna Rada on Feb. 9, 2017. (Volodymyr Petrov)
Date: June 23, 2019
Source: 112 Ukraina TV Channel
Quote: “Today, the Presidential Administration has said a brilliant thing. Jokes must end at some point. ‘The capital needs to be moved.’ The capital needs to be moved from Kyiv to another place. This is the official statement of Zelensky’s Party.”
Fact-check.
- Among the first media to report the news were Savran News and Krasnooknyanski News. Both of the news websites quoted the leader of the Servant of the People party Dmytro Razumkov. Both websites are created using Tilda site designer, have similar design and publish the same texts. Krasnooknyanski News website has 51 follower on Facebook while Savran News has 31. The first publication is dated May 30 on both websites.
- The Servant of the People Party in response to a request from Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty reported that “neither Dmytro Razumkov nor any other party representative has ever said anything like that.”
Batkivshchyna
Yulia Tymoshenko, No. 1 on the party list
Batkivshchyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko arrives at news conference in front of the Presidential Administration headquarters in Kyiv on May 21, 2019. (Volodymyr Petrov)
Date: July 1, 2019
Source: ICTV Channel
Quote: “Over the past five years, at least 500 medical institutions and 1,633 paramedic and obstetric stations have been closed in rural areas. Some 32,000 doctors were fired and some 70,000 went to find better life abroad.”
Fact-check
- According to the State Statistics Service, at the end of 2014, the number of hospitals reached more than 1,800. By the end of 2017, this number was at more than 1,700 institutions.
- State Statistics Service also estimated that during 2014-2017 the number of doctors of all specialties remained stable with 186,000. During this time, the number of nurses, midwives and medical doctor’s assistants decreased by 19,000. There is no data available for 2018.
- There is no official statistics on the labor migration of medical workers abroad.
Voice
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, No. 1 on the party list
Rock musician Svyatoslav Vakarchuk talks to voters at the campaign rally of his political party Voice in Kharkiv on June 30, 2019 (Photo by Oleg Petrasiuk)
Date: June 24, 2019
Source: ICTV Channel
Quote: “More than 90 percent do not trust the Ukrainian parliament.”
Fact-check
- This is an exaggeration. According to a poll conducted by the Razumkov Center during March 20-26, at least 81.6% of respondents mostly did not trust the Verkhovna Rada.
- Previously, Vakarchuk quoted similar statement. Then he said that only 3 percent of the population trust the parliament. The VoxCheck project called it “manipulation” because the leader of the Voice party did not take into account those people who “mostly trust” the Verkhovna Rada
- Only 1.3 percent of Ukrainians trust the parliament, according to a poll by the Razumkov Center. However, to have a clear picture is it worth adding those who answered “mostly trust parliament.”. In this survey there were 11.1 percent of respondents who said so. It bring the level of people’s trust in parliament to 12.4 percent.
Servant of the People
Dmytro Razumkov, No 1 on the party list
Head of Servant of the People political party, Dmytro Razumkov (R), introduces Ruslan Stefanchuk, president’s representative in the parliament and #2 on the party’s list for the July 21 election, at the convention in Kyiv’s botanical garden on June 9, 2019. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Date: July 4, 2019
Source: 1+1 TV Channel
Quote: “I think, to us, clearly, it’s not beneficial (to cancel the law on lustration). Because you have a single argument – it is (the head of the Presidential Administration Andriy) Bohdan. First of all, Bohdan, in my opinion, does not violate the law here. There is a norm about which you spoke. …He is not a civil servant, therefore he is not a subject of the law on lustration.”
Fact-check
- Bohdan was appointed by then-Prime Minister Mykola Azarov as the Cabinet’s commissioner on anti-corruption policy in 2010-2011 and 2013-2014. Under the law on lustration, the government commissioner on anti-corruption policy is a subject of lustration. The law prohibits officials who didn’t pass lustration checks to hold a position of the head of the Presidential Administration and a dozen of other position by 2024.
- On May 22, the Ministry of Justice reported that Bohdan can not head the Presidential Administration, because he is a subject of the law on lustration. The deputy chairman of the Presidential Administration Ruslan Ryaboshapka said on May 23 that President Volodymyr Zelensky would dismiss Bohdan if the Constitutional Court decides that the Law “On Cleansing of the Authorities” (Lustration Act) is in line with Ukraine’s Constitution.
