Although Ukrainian election watchdog Opora said that the Oct. 25 local elections passed without systemic violations, many disturbances were reported throughout election day.
On Oct. 25, Ukrainians elected mayors, village heads and local councils of all levels. The polls were open from 8 a.m. till 8 p.m.
The turnout was low, partly due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to Opora, 36% of Ukrainians voted, which is some 10% less than the turnout in the last local elections in 2015.
The police reported 68 criminal and 187 administrative violations during the vote.
Some of the reported violations were the familiar ones that occur during every election. But others were bizarre even for Ukraine.
Fake polling places
In two places around Ukraine, fake polling stations opened, apparently as a form of protest against the ongoing decentralization reform and the cancelation of village councils.
One fake polling station opened inside a local house of culture, a Soviet-era institution for holding events, in the village of Sosnivka in Sumy Oblast.
Its organizers printed out self-made ballots and turned on loud music to attract voters.
The village tried to sabotage the election because it was angry against the government’s decision to unite it with a nearby village into one hromada, a new administrative unit, according to Olga Aivazovska, head of Opora.
The legitimate polling station was located in a more remote place than the fake one and was less convenient for locals to get to.
The police have opened an investigation into obstruction of the right to vote. They said a local businessman was suspected of faking the polling site.
“The individuals who organized an imitation polling station not only used the insignias required by law, but also sent out invitations to vote to local residents,” the press service of the Sumy Oblast police said in a statement.
The villagers from Sosnivka were not alone in their bid to fake a polling station.
The residents of Chausove village in Mykolaiv Oblast had the same idea. They organized an illegal polling station in a private care facility for the elderly, according to Opora observers.
The decentralization reform made Chausove join the Pervomaisk hromada, and some villagers were apparently against the change. As a result, they initiated an illegal vote for the village head and the members of the council.
Improvised polling booths
Observers reported many disturbances in Zhytomyr, a city of 266,000 people 140 kilometers west of Kyiv. Several polling stations there were underequipped.
One polling station based in a kindergarten gym had no voting booths at all, according to Opora.
Another one located in a different kindergarten found a substitute for a booth — a screen from a puppet theater.
Some polling stations in Zhytomyr had to make the booths from scrap materials.
Naked activism
On the morning of Oct. 25, an activist of Femen, a feminist movement once famous for its naked demonstrations, staged a solo protest at a polling station in Kyiv where President Volodymyr Zelensky was voting.
When Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska were walking to the entrance of the polling station, the female activist ran out of the crowd blowing a whistle to attract Zelensky’s attention and lifted up her skirt. She was not wearing underwear.
Writing on the inside of her skirt said “Zexist,” a combination of Ze — short for Zelensky — and sexist.
The woman was immediately dragged away by Zelensky’s security.
According to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, the police recorded it as petty hooliganism, an administrative violation.
Other violations
According to election watchdogs from various non-governmental organizations, illegal campaigning at the polling stations and on billboards were among the most common violations.
Some electoral commissions in the Donbas and in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast were provided with incorrect ballots. Some were printed with mistakes, while others were delivered to the wrong polling station.
Independent observers also noted that vote buying was taking place, as were the attempts to bus people in or spoil ballots.
It is yet to be determined whether these violations undermine the results of any of the races.
