The parliamentary vote on the draft Electoral Code planned for this week has been postponed. Earlier, EPDE members Civic Network OPORA and the Committee of Voters of Ukraine raised serious concerns about some provisions of the draft and pointed to a number of shortcomings resulting from last minute amendments to the draft. This policy alert analyses these shortcomings and calls on the Verkhovna Rada to present the final draft Electoral Code to the public in a timely manner in order to ensure transparency.

According to the “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”, these elections do not meet international standards of democratic and free elections for a number of reasons: lack of equal access to state media for all candidates, lack of impartial election commissions, use of administrative resource in favor of pro-government candidates, numerous cases of coercion of voters to participate in early voting, and intransparent vote counting procedures. 

In general, local executive committees created favorable conditions for election campaigning and the number of places for holding public events increased in comparison with the elections of 2016. However, election campaigning was low key and administrative resources were widely used to promote the pro-government candidates, while non-affiliated and opposition candidates reported that their political campaigns were censored and there were cases of bans on broadcasting the campaign speeches of opposition candidates.

Promo-LEX observed that the opening and closing of polling stations on 03.11. was regular. One issue observed multiple times was that 27% of the PEBs continued to ignore the rule that stipulates that one member of the bureau is to display the ballots to all the participants in the counting process. Observed incidents were once again not of a significant nature, but included cases of unjustified and unauthorized persons being present within 100 m. of the PS as well as in the PS (25); presence of advertising materials, posters, electoral displays within 100 m. of the PS (21); and difficulties for the operation of the SIAS Elections system (20); organized transportation of voters (13). The results of parallel vote counting for the post of general mayor of Chisinau municipality confirmed the percentage offered by the CEC.

This coalition of election monitors in Moldova, including our member Promo-LEX, observed the following issues throughout the General local elections and by-elections: limitations of the freedom of voter information, the hindering of work of election management bodies, inconsistent candidate registration practices, a lack of impartial media, and the obstruction of the work of national observers.

Opposition candidates have been censored during their campaigning and have had their registrations revoked for criticising authorities, reports the election observation campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”. Many appeals of candidates whose registration was refused have yet to be considered despite the period for this having already passed and only one appeal was successful. Cases of abuse of administrative resources for election campaigning by the pro-government candidates have been recorded, as well as creating obstacles to independent and opposition candidates in their campaigning events.

This comparative analysis by Tatyana Hilscher-Bogussevich of conditions for citizen election observers in the Eastern Neighborhood has found that Russia ranks the worst since there are no legal provisions allowing for civil society to be directly accredited as election observers. There is a similarly restrictive environment in Azerbaijan and Belarus. Other countries of the region rank better and generally facilitate citizen observation, however issues still remain. This study is a first in a series based on the newly launched Catalogue of Recommendations on Electoral Reform.

Promo-LEX: Recent legislative changes create substantial ambiguities for participants in the electoral process. The Promo-LEX Observation Mission is concerned about the modification of some legislative acts, by Law no. 113/2019, which has been made during the electoral period. The changes deal with such fundamental aspects as: electoral campaigning, financing of electoral campaigns, designation and registration of competitors, etc. Introducing such amendments to the Electoral Code during the electoral period has a negative impact on the correctness and predictability of the electoral process.

In Anton Shekhovtsov’s newest study, he analyzes how Russian officials invited "international experts" with known involvement in various pro-Kremlin efforts to observe the regional elections in Moscow and how they were used by officials, pro-regime media and organizations to legitimize the electoral process and neutralize the negative effect of refusing to register independent opposition candidates for the elections to the Moscow City Duma.

On 13 September 2019, the Ukrainian Parliament, following a request from President Zelensky, dismissed all acting commissioners of the Central Election Commission. The decision was taken with a vast majority of 341 votes. Due to the lack of objective grounds, the dissolution of Ukraine’s key electoral management body is assessed as politically motivated and has provoked harsh criticism. Election observers and independent experts call for a transparent process in forming a new CEC.

More than five thousand elections on different levels were held in Russia on September 8, on the so-called single voting day. The average turnout was 41.2%, which slightly exceeded last year’s turnout. In gubernatorial elections, all candidates designated and supported by the Kremlin have won in the first round. However, in the elections to the regional and city councils, where there was relative competition between parties, United Russia scored much less than in previous elections – 16% less on average.

The majority of observers were able to freely attend meetings of bodies that formed the TECs and DECs; only five of them reported obstacles at the first meetings of the commissions; as in the past, absence of legislative guarantees of the proportional representation in the election commissions of all political actors involved in the elections results in arbitrary and discriminatory treatment in respect of opposition parties and movements;

The  pre-election  period hasbeencharacterizedby adelay  in constituting  the parliamentary  majority,  which led  touncertainties with  regard  tothe  date  of the  general  local elections.Politicalcontext  of local elections  was outlinedby  the  establishment  of  a  new  governing alliance  (the PSRM,  PAS,  PPPDA)  andthe PDM  (ruling  party  since  2009)moving  to  the  opposition.Party switchingbythe local elected officialsis anotherconsequence of the relations establishedin the politicaland administrativesystem during the inter-election period.

On June 24, ISFED has released a statement regarding the announcement of Georgian Dream about initiative to introduce proportional electoral system with no threshold for 2020 parliamentary elections. ISFED welcomes the decision to immediately introduce a proportional electoral system. Holding the next parliamentary elections under proportional system is essential for democratic development of Georgia, however decision of eliminating the threshold poses some risks such as fragmentation of parties, difficulty to form government, potential of political crises and instability, etc.

On May 22, the Ukrainian Parliament refused to vote on changes to the electoral law as they were proposed on the same day by President Zelenskiy. This issue summarizes recent developments regarding the (non)reform of Ukraine’s electoral legal framework ahead of the early parliamentary elections scheduled for July 21, 2019.

EPDE's Georgian member ISFED is observing by-elections, which take place 19 May in several electoral districts in Georgia, and presenting its 1st statement about the opening of polling stations and the voting process. ISFED observers were free to access and observe almost all polling stations. They have reported that at majority of electoral precincts, openning of polling stations and the voting process was free from significant violations. At some polling stations procedural shortcomings were found. In most districts, there is a trend of mobilization of party activists outside polling stations, who in most cases are registering voters that arrive at the polls.

In Anton Shekhovtsov’s newest study, he identifies different factors that influence the occurrence of Russian interference in international elections. This article discusses elections in France, Norway, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, and Sweden that took place in 2017-2018, and shows how different combinations of these factors produced different outcomes in terms of Russian meddling.

The Committee of Voters in Ukraine (CVU)  found no systemic violations during E-Day. Those violations that were recorded included violations of voting procedures by the members of the precinct election commissions, inaccuracy of the voter lists, illegal campaigning, and photographing of the filled-in ballots by voters.

The Presidential elections in Ukraine are approaching fast, taking place on 31 March 2019. Issue no. 11 gives an update on recent developments regarding the Draft Election Code, which was approved by the Verkhovna Rada in the first reading in November 2017 and aims to harmonize Ukraine’s electoral legal framework by introducing a proportional electoral system with open regional party lists. 

Representatives of the Civil Network OPORA reported that the misuse of administrative resources and transparency of campaign financing became two major challenges in February during the Presidential election campaign. They further reported on the establishment of district election commissions and on instances of false accusations launched against certain candidates of being involved in vote buying schemes.

The fifth report includes monitoring results using the framework of the Promo-LEX Observation Mission (OM) for the period of 6 February – 20 February 2019 in the run-up to the parliamentary elections taking place on the 24 February 2019.

The Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre (EMDS) published the final findings of its observation of the April 11, 2018 Presidential election in Azerbaijan covering all major election processes – the nomination of candidates, pre-election campaigning, election day voting and vote counting.

OPORA has published its first observation report on the presidential election campaign where it has been recording the wide-scale early campaigning efforts organized by over ten potential candidates over the last few months. There remains some legal uncertainty about the character of such campaigning and there is also a problem of shadow campaign financing occuring during the official election process.

Promo-LEX Association launched its third Observation Mission Report on the Parliamentary Elections of 24 February 2019. It reveals a series of worrying trends, in particular, intimidation of Promo-LEX observers, early start of electoral campaigns, misuse of administrative resources and offering of electoral gifts, defective reporting of expenditure by initiative groups, as well as other cases related to non-observance of some legal provisions by the public administration.

The booklet "Politically biased election observation—a threat to the integrity of international institutions" contains EPDE reports by Anton Shekhovtsov on politically biased election observation missions to the presidential election and the regional elections in Russia, the illegitimate presidential election in Crimea, the elections in Cambodia and Zimbabwe and the illegitimate “general elections” in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which all took place in 2018.