The territorial election commission of district No. 23 (Volyn oblast) has given permission to vote with defective ballots. At polling station No. 211, next to the surname of presidential candidate M. Brodskyi, the mark "withdrawn" has been placed. Currently, representatives of the candidate, lawyers and representatives of Viktor Yushchenko's headquarters are establishing on what grounds the decision was made to issue defective ballots to voters. More than 900 voters are registered at this polling station; it includes 2 villages of the Liubeshiv district. In the neighboring territorial election district No. 19, at polling station No. 158 (which includes three villages), yesterday evening the mark "withdrawn" was placed on the ballots next to candidate I. Dushyn. The leadership of the oblast headquarters of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko filed a complaint regarding the violation. The territorial commission replaced the spoiled ballots. In this district, the voters' right to reliable information about the subjects of the election process has been preserved, therefore the election commission has begun work.
In the city of Kovel (Volyn oblast, TEC No. 21), the headquarters of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko discovered several minibuses containing people with absentee certificates. The buses drive up to polling stations, where they are met by headquarters representatives with video cameras. The "tourists" do not want to vote under such circumstances, so they register as observers and leave the polling stations. Representatives of the opposition candidate followed the minibuses until one of them drove into a forest in a neighboring district, and the second drove onto the territory of the children's camp "Oberih". A vehicle of Yushchenko's district headquarters is on duty in this area. Representatives of candidate Yushchenko's headquarters are "on the tail" of another bus. In total, 6 such buses have been detected in Kovel.
At polling station No. 222 of Kovel territorial election district No. 21 (Shatsk district, Volyn oblast), observers from Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko recorded the fact of ballot buying. According to a report from the local headquarters, a man whom voters know as a civil servant tried to buy a ballot for 20 hryvnias. The woman who was "selling" her voting right was initially detained by observers but escaped from the polling station. It was not possible to draw up a report on the fact of the incident, since three people could not be found who would sign the document about the violation of legislation by a civil servant. As reported by the head of Viktor Yushchenko's headquarters in the Shatsk district, Roman Sliusarchyk, similar attempts to buy election documents were noticed today at three more polling stations in the city.
In the Starovyzhivskyi district, in the village of Zaluttia (Volyn oblast, TEC No. 21), a protocol on the violation was drawn up against a local priest who conducted campaigning during a church service (Moscow Patriarchate).
And at polling station No. 61 in the village of Drozdni (TEC No. 21), the commission chairman refused to issue protocols to members of the polling station and observers. According to the commission leadership, they were forbidden at a TEC meeting to write out more than 4 protocols. At the same time, the commission chairman could not name the surname of the territorial commission member who gave such an order, citing the fact that at the meeting "there were many of them." After the intervention of lawyers from candidate Viktor Yushchenko's headquarters, the leadership of polling station commission No. 61 admitted that they "had not read the Law to the end."
As of 18:00, the territorial election commission in Lutsk district No. 22 has considered more than 590 complaints related to corrections in voter lists. Another 100 complaints are under consideration. The TEC says that all complaints will not be considered today, citing lack of time. About a hundred voters are near the premises of the territorial commission. Some of them are waiting for the results of consideration of individual complaints, while another part of Lutsk residents are still writing complaints. In addition, about 400 similar complaints were considered during the day at the Lutsk city-district court.
At polling station No. 33 in the Kovel district, more than 200 voters turned to the TEC during the day with complaints that they had been brought invitations from polling stations, but today they did not find themselves in the lists for issuing ballots. All complaints were resolved positively.