Only 37% of Ukrainian voters, or 10 million people, cast their vote in the local elections on Oct. 25, according to preliminary turnout the Central Election Commission has released.
It appears to be the lowest turnout ever seen at any local elections, and most likely the lowest turnout at any election in Ukraine.
The turnout was remarkably lower than at the previous local elections in 2015 when it stood at 46.6%. The turnout at the preceding 2010 local elections was reportedly 48.7%. The previous years demonstrated even higher turnout at the local elections, according to Ukrainian media.
The Kyiv Post wasn’t able to immediately verify the reported numbers because the Central Election Commission does not provide election statistics from before 2010.
The low turnout was especially striking since the Oct. 25 elections were the most important local elections in Ukraine yet. Because of the ongoing decentralization reform, local authorities will be in charge of spending more taxpayers’ money than ever before.
The coronavirus pandemic is believed to be the main reason for the low turnout. Ukraine had nearly 196,000 confirmed active cases on the election day.
Those who learned they had COVID-19 right before the Oct. 25 election day, couldn’t vote, because the “vote from home” service had to be requested in advance.
COVID-19 patients had an opportunity to stay home and vote from there or from the hospital if they filed a special request by the evening of Oct. 23. Members of the electoral committee then visited them to record their votes.
Yet the pandemic isn’t the only reason why so few Ukrainians participated in the election.
“The second reason for the low turnout is the crisis trust for the political establishment,” Volodymyr Fesenko, a Kyiv-based political consultant and commentator, wrote on Facebook following the election.
His words are backed by a survey by Rating Group Ukraine, a sociological research institution.
According to it, 20% of the respondents didn’t participate in local elections due to their health condition; 19% said they don’t live where they are registered to vote; 15% responded they were busy on election day; 12% were uninterested in elections; 10% said they didn’t make it because of the coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time, 63% of those who did not attend the polling stations said they feel disappointed by the situation in the country, while 32% said they felt hopeful.
