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The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

“Façade democracy” video cameras at polling stations were virtually not used

01.10.2013   
Ukraine’s Accounting Chamber has reported that over 955 million UAH were effectively wasted during the last parliamentary elections since the video surveillance equipment purchased was virtually not used

Ukraine’s Accounting Chamber has reported that over 955 million UAH were effectively wasted during the last parliamentary elections since the video surveillance equipment purchased was virtually not used.

“Considering that the use of video surveillance during the next election campaigns or in any other fashion is not envisaged by current legislation, the fate of this system remains unclear. At present its technical components worth 195.9 million UAH have been handed for keeping to local state administrations”.

There are other critical comments regarding the Central Election Commission’s failure to heed conclusions and recommendations from the Accounting Chamber and wasting of funding.

There was considerable criticism over the government’s much-trumpeted plans to install video cameras at polling stations. President Yanukovych asserted that these would ensure that the elections were transparent.

Head of the civic network OPORA, Olha Aivazovska stressed that the CCTV was not enough since there were a number of equally important parts of the electoral process which would not be recorded.  She called the cameras a sign of so-called façade democracy and noted that video recordings were not proof in court.  She and others stressed that if video surveillance was to be effective it should record the vote count.   “And it would have been even better to spend that money on observing the work of the district commissions and the CEC because these were the most problematic areas regarding electoral fraud”. 

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