Central Election Commission appeals ruling on home voting
The CEC has lodged an appeal against Mondays ruling by the Kyiv District Administrative Court which ordered the Commission to establish procedure to confirm that voters really need to vote from home.
In an interview given to Interfax – Ukraine, a member of the CEC Mykhailo Okhendovsky said that 8 members of the Commission had voted to lodge the appeal. He stressed that Mondays ruling cannot come into force until the appeal is heard.
The Committee of Voters of Ukraine has warned of the possibilities of vote-rigging through home voting. It is interesting that there is again a party divide over the issue, with the appeal allowed by the court on Monday having been brought by the electoral blocs of Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine – Peoples Self-Defence [NU – NS]. The other leading factions support a simple application without the need to provide proof. The leader of the Communist Party Petro Symonenko claimed yesterday that the aim in calling for restrictions “is to deprive people of the right to vote and to create the conditions for wide-scale vote-rigging to serve the interests of the orange side". Mr Symonenko did not, apparently, feel the need to explain his words in more detail.