Controversy rages and measures raise eyebrows over the vote count at District Election Commission No. 11 in Vinnytsa

The election watchdog OPORA reports that there is mystery as to the whereabouts of the ballot papers for Election District No. 185. Members of the DEC assert that they have handed them over to the archive but have no documents to show confirming this.

Mykola Knyazhytsky says that at the moment nobody is being admitted to the room where the district election commission [DEC] is meeting – neither journalists nor candidates. In contrast, the police are in the premises all the time and are present during the commission meetings.

Following the storm by Berkut riot police of the election commission premises in Pervomaisk, removal of protocols and disappearance of the head of the commission, the Central Election Commission would seem to have received and sent back protocols

High Representative Vice-President Catherine Ashton and Commissioner Štefan Füle note with increasing concern that five days after the closure of the ballot the consolidated results have still not been announced.

Mission Canada has noted the negative development of serious problems in the tabulation of the results by the District Election Commissions (DECs) since election-day.

More scandal in the election district where the Central Election Commission first published official results showing Arkady Kornatsky from the United Opposition to have won, and then, without any explanation handed victory to the Party of the Regions candidate

In some election districts the number of voters at close of voting on Election Day was between one and two thousand different from when the polling stations opened. Moreover, the figure could be less at close of voting, indicating that large numbers of votes had disappeared, or higher, with “votes” mysteriously appearing.

CVU Head Oleksandr Chernenko says that if the elections themselves, although problematical, passed on the whole peacefully, the vote count has “wiped out all positive features of these elections”.

An opposition MP claims that the changes are in favour of Bohdan Hubsky while an alternative vote count on Thursday by members of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, CHESNO and other civic groups found that United Opposition candidate Leonid Datsenko had won

The election watchdog OPORA reports worrying cases where the court has allowed suits from the main unsuccessful rival to Batkivshchyna candidate Viktor Romanyuk despite the acts about an infringement being written in the court and no other evidence

Flagrant infringements of electoral legislation videoed by an OPORA observer have formed the grounds for a recount of the votes at one of the polling stations in Electoral District No. 155 (centre in Dubrovytsa, Rivne oblast). The District Electoral Council has, however, refused to carry out a recount at other stations where the same infringements were recorded.

The Committee of Voters of Ukraine [CVU] is challenging the decision of a precinct electoral commission which removed an official observer and journalist who was trying to check the passport of a person believed to be voting for a second time

Dozens of relatives of high-ranking lawmakers and politicians will be entering the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada after winning one of the parliament’s 225 single-mandate seats -- a situation in which candidates can particularly profit from the influence and endorsements of well-placed relatives

The OSCE observers called the refusal to allow the meeting because of Ms Tymoshenko’s hunger strike to be a violation of her human rights

The Institute for Mass Information reports that on Election Day there were 16 reported cases where journalists were obstructed when carrying out their work. There was also one attack on a journalist and a case involving indirect pressure

It says that the parliamentary campaign was marked by competition in the election process being artificially restricted and by flagrant violations of the principle of equal opportunity for political parties and candidates

A US State Department spokesperson has reiterated the concerns expressed by the OSCE regarding the use of government resources to favor ruling party candidates, interference with media access, harassment of opposition candidates and others

Ukraine’s parliamentary elections were characterized by a tilted playing field. This was the result, primarily, of the abuse of administrative resources, as well as a lack of transparency in campaign and party financing and of balanced media coverage.”

The Committee of Voters of Ukraine [CVU] has published its report on its monitoring of Election Day. It says that although violations were not of a mass and systematic nature, infringements were recorded in most regions