The report was prepared by a group of long-term observers who worked in all territorial election districts of the Volyn region. Previous monitoring reports of the Civil Network OPORA can be found on the website www.opora.org.ua

At this stage, OPORA does not see any real preconditions for the disruption of the early elections in Volyn. 4 days before the elections, the biggest problem that may affect the course of voting day is the extremely low quality of voter lists.

OBSERVATION CONCLUSIONS: BASED ON THE OBSERVATION RESULTS, OPORA STATES:

1. District election commissions find it difficult to fulfill their powers. The very tight deadlines of the election campaign do not allow the DECs to perform all the mandatory actions provided for by law. In many cases, violations of deadlines and procedures for performing mandatory actions were recorded (in particular, regarding the transfer of voter lists to PECs, adoption of decisions on including PEC members in voter lists at the place of work in the commissions). In fact, only 3-5 people actually work in each commission. These individuals cannot physically handle the entire volume of work assigned to the commission. Other members of the commissions mostly come only to meetings, have a weak understanding of the legislation, and accordingly provide little real help.

2. OPORA and AMoRe are concerned about the recorded facts of conflict situations between commission members from the opposition and the coalition. As voting day approaches, their number is increasing, which may cause blocking of the DECs' work.

3. Problems with material and technical support remain relevant for almost all DECs (old computers, copiers). Some DEC premises are unsuitable for normal work on receiving documentation on election day. Problems with PECs have been added to this. There are still PECs that are not provided with telephones. Many polling stations have no stands. There are also problems with safes. A number of decisions have been adopted regarding the replacement of premises. A serious problem is the insufficient funding of the work of election commissions. In particular, there are too few funds to pay for the work of commission members, released employees, and PEC transport services.

4. Most PEC members in the region have experience working in commissions. Almost all chairpersons, deputies and secretaries in the period from 18 to 23 September 2007 took part in training sessions for PEC members held in the region by the Lviv City Civic Organization "Center for Political Analysis and Election Consulting" (in accordance with the Plan of Cooperation between the Central Election Commission and the OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine). Also, manuals explaining election legislation were distributed to all commissions. However, despite this, there are serious problems with the correct application of election legislation. Commission members are confused by the legal norms regulating the conduct of early elections, especially those concerning voter lists.

5. The organization of the work of precinct election commissions is a cause for serious concern. Parties and blocs are still submitting candidates to replace PEC members. Constant rotations in commissions, especially those concerning PEC leadership, seriously hinder the normal organization of the election process at the polling station level. In many cases, violations of deadlines and procedures for performing mandatory actions are recorded (in particular, holding the first PEC meetings, publishing voter lists for review, accepting complaints about inaccuracies in the lists).

6. Voter lists are in an extremely poor state. It is precisely the work on clarifying voter lists that takes the most time in DECs and PECs and creates the most problems. It is worth noting that working groups on voter accounting throughout the region are working on clarifying information about voters. It is worth noting their active work on forming voter lists as well. After all, in addition to summarizing information from various institutions and bodies, they carried out verification of the received information and in some cases - door-to-door visits. That is, the information in the groups was real. There are suspicions that the problems with voter lists are related to the electronic program itself that the CEC sent to the working groups. According to our estimates, about 30-40% of the information in voter lists is erroneous. That is, there are inaccuracies regarding specific voters, the lists contain information about voters who do not have the right to be included in the list at a specific polling station, or there is no information at all about voters registered in the territory of a specific polling station.

7. The activity of voters in checking information about themselves in voter lists is extremely weak. According to our estimates, only 5-10% of voters visited PECs to check information about themselves or other voters and wrote a corresponding complaint. Since on 27 September the voter list is closed and any changes will be prohibited, a significant number of people will not be able to exercise their right and vote on 30 September. According to our forecasts, this could be about 3-10% of voters in our region. This may cause conflicts and disturb public order on election day and hinder the work of PECs.

8. No serious facts of overt or covert campaigning by officials in the region have been recorded. Isolated cases were non-systemic in nature and will not be able to seriously influence the will of voters.

9. The campaign is generally conducted freely. A number of violations were recorded during campaigning by election process subjects. Basically, they are related to the distribution of materials without imprint data, failure to indicate actual print runs, placement of campaign materials in unauthorized places, provision of free goods or services, involvement of minors in campaigning, etc. Cases of damage to campaign billboards of certain political forces were recorded.

THUS, BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THE MONITORING CONDUCTED, OPORA RECOMMENDS:

1. To government bodies – to respond promptly and facilitate the resolution of problems with material and technical support of DECs and PECs, to ensure transportation of voters to polling stations in those villages where this may be a problem due to significant distances.

2. To DECs and PECs – to mobilize for work in the final week, to involve all commission members in their work, to establish a clear distribution of responsibilities in order to perform all mandatory actions within the established deadlines. To pay more attention to detailed study of the Law of Ukraine "On Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine" in order to apply it correctly. To precinct election commissions – on 29 September, during the distribution of responsibilities among PEC members for voting day, to ensure that ballots are issued by two commission members, one of whom represents a "coalition" party and the other – an "opposition" party. Mutual control by these representatives will not allow illegal issuance of ballots for "dead souls" or other voters. To members of election commissions – to distance themselves from political conflicts and work in a spirit of consensus, thereby increasing the efficiency of work and public trust in the election process. To PEC members – to take a responsible approach to fulfilling their duties, to organize and conduct elections in an organized and honest manner, complying with all norms and procedures provided for by the Law and remembering criminal and administrative liability for violation of election legislation.

3. To DECs of the region – to MANDATORILY adopt decisions on including PEC members in the voter lists of the polling station where they will work on voting day and on excluding them from voter lists at their place of residence. To precinct election commissions, political parties – subjects of the election process – to ensure control and verification of voters' applications for voting at their place of stay using the norms of CEC Resolution No. 412 of 20 September 2007. OPORA recommends paying special attention to polling stations where the number of voters included for voting at their place of stay exceeds 3-5%.

4. To parties and blocs – to complete work on submitting candidates to PECs, to conduct additional training among their members with emphasis on the correct application of election legislation. Not to involve PEC members in campaign events and not to demand from PEC members actions that contradict current legislation. To ensure the attendance of all commission members at polling stations at 6:15 on 30 September, to prepare a reserve for staffing PECs if they cannot gather a quorum on voting day.

5. To civic organizations, political parties, mass media, government bodies – to conduct the widest possible information campaign among voters and call on them to check themselves in voter lists, and also to start a campaign to increase voter turnout at polling stations on voting day. Only until 27 September can local courts consider cases regarding inaccuracies in voter lists, since PECs by the end of the day on 27 September are obliged to close voter lists and making any changes, except for typos, will already be impossible.

6. To working groups on voter accounting – to submit information on identified inaccuracies and errors to DECs in a timely manner so that this information is transferred to PECs and entered into voter lists by 27 September.

7. To voters of the Volyn region: to show their active civic position, check themselves in voter lists, in case of inaccuracies apply to the DEC (until 24:00 on 26 September) or to a local court (until the end of the working day on 27 September), on election day come to the polling station and exercise their right to vote, and thereby make it impossible for your ballot to be used by other persons.

8. To law enforcement agencies – to properly organize work on election day, and also to fulfill duties regarding the protection of safes with ballots, escorting PEC members during their transportation, etc. OPORA recommends that the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs establish bonuses and allowances, as well as proper support for the work of those employees who will work at polling stations from 27 September to 1 October.

9. To official observers from political parties, civic organizations, international observers, media representatives – to ensure control over the course of voting and other procedures. OPORA draws special attention to the possibility of voting for "dead souls", the use of technologies of the so-called "carousel" or "khustynka", attempts at which were reported to OPORA by representatives of various political forces, attempts to bribe voters on voting day, the process of organizing voting by voters at their place of stay, vote counting, as well as the transportation of ballots and their transfer from PECs to DECs.

10. To subjects of the election process – to stop making unfounded statements about preparations for falsifications and sowing distrust among voters in the voting results, not to resort on election day or on the eve to actions that contradict current legislation. To treat imperfect election legislation with understanding and not to use its gaps for attempts to declare election results invalid, regardless of any result that will be obtained.

11. After the elections and the start of the work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, OPORA calls for the start of the process of discussion and preparation of amendments to the current Law of Ukraine "On Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine", as well as related legislation. First of all, it is necessary to change the mechanisms for forming election commissions, making changes to voter lists, participation of officials in the election campaign, etc. OPORA also calls for starting work on creating a single voter register within the deadlines determined by the Law.

In case of detection of facts of violations or if there is a need to obtain information about the correct application of election legislation, contact the hotline of the Volyn branch of the Civil Network OPORA – 8 (067) 41-65-086.