Violations observed in the course of the election in the Chernigiv region
The Chernigiv public committee of human rights protection (the ChPCHRP, in what follows), in the framework of work of the informational center «Human rights during elections» and the project «Active protection of election rights-2004» realized with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, spreads the information about violations of human rights connected with the election process and violation of operating laws disclosed during the voting and calculation of votes on 31 October 2004 on the territory of the Chernigiv region.
On 31 October 2004, since the moment of opening of election stations, the following violations were fixed.
Election station No. 7 of election circuit No. 208 (situated in secondary school No. 1): ballot boxes are located beyond the sight of voters (violation of Article 74 item 1). The information given by voter Oleksandr Shtan (83/14 Peremogi Ave., Chernigiv).
Election station No. 101 of election circuit No. 208 (auto-park): informational placards of the candidates to President’s post are stored on the table in a corner of the room, although they must be arranged in alphabetical order for general access of voters to this information (violation of Article 74 item 5). The information of the ChPCHRP.
Election station No. 38 of election circuit No. 208: the group for organization of voting outside the election station consists only of two persons – the head and secretary of the commission (violation of Article 77 item 4); ballot boxes are located beyond the sight of voters.
Violation of Article 57 item 2 was disclosed at 49 Uritskiy Street: the agitation placard «Our town is for Yanukovich!» was hanging on a balcony of the second story of the apartment house.
Election station No. 188 of circuit No. 213, township Sosnytsya: one of the members of the group, which organized the voting outside the election station, went to the voters with video camera, recorded the process and agitated for candidate to presidency V. Yushchenko. The voting with this ballot box was acknowledged to be invalid.
Election station No. 74 of circuit No. 213, township Berezna (the Mena district): 4 militiamen and 10 voluntarily assistants of militia stand near the entrance to the station and demand documents from every person, which wants to come in; in the morning of 31 October the members of the commission were made to remove all programs of the candidates.
Stations Nos. 73, 74 and 75 of circuit No. 213, township Berezna: the observers and members of the commissions «help» to old people to vote entering the polling booths with them.
In the town of Mena the district court had no time to process the complaint against the errors in the lists of voters: the court receives up to three complaints per minute.
In Chernigiv the agitation placards (without dateline) for candidate O. Moroz are placed in many places, most often near the election stations.
Violation of Article 57 item 2 was disclosed at 103 Peremogi Avenu in Chernigiv: the agitation placard «For Yanukovich! Choice-2004!» was hanging on a balcony of the third story of the apartment house.
In the Mena, Sosnytsya and Chernigiv districts (election circuits Nos. 209 and 213) the number of persons with the «off-list tickets» was rather great. Even at the election stations situated in faraway villages with population up to 100 persons the number of such persons was from 5 to 10.
Election station No. 71 of the 213th circuit (the town of Mena) got the defective ballot box (made in Kramatorsk of the Donetsk region), which could not be used (the act was compiled about that), so there was one box less at the station.
In the village Zaytsy of the Chernigiv district, at election station No. 135 of circuit 209, observers G. Korshok and M. Grishchenko noticed, during the voting, that some of the members of the commission voted for several times, every time putting a bulletin to the box.
In the evening of 31 October 2004 young people began to gather near the building of the central election commission, and some militia officers spread the information that these persons were the warriors of the UNA-UNSO. Representatives of the ChPCHRP, who came to the place, found only a small group of students.
At election stations in the towns Mena and Koriukivka not all bulletins were got from the safe after the opening of the stations at 8:00.
The number of bulletins passed to election station No. 77 of circuit No. 213 (the town of Koriukivka) was 190 less than the number of voters in the lists.
Several cases of presence of the off-list tickets, which had been taken from voters, but not signed, were registered in district election commissions.
There were several complaints concerning the work of election station No. 101 of circuit No. 208 from aged people, who claimed that the commission had refused to accept their applications about voting at home; motivating the refusal with the absence of transport.
The complaints from observers were received from some election stations, which read that the members of the commissions regarded as valid the bulletins, which contained marks near the surnames of all candidates.
The protocols, which were passed to territorial election commissions, contained many mistakes, some protocols were rewritten by the members of district election commissions in the territorial commissions.