01 Apr, 2019
Sections
First round of the presidential elections took place in Ukraine
1. CPLR expert opinion
On March 31, 2019, presidential elections were held in Ukraine. According to preliminary information, none of the candidates received the majority of votes, therefore, a second round of voting is expected to be take place on April 21, 2019.
2. Respective authorities counter-point/argument
Chairman of the Central Election Commission: “There were many different warnings, the level of tension of the campaign was quite high, a number of very serious issues that could be critical for the electoral process, some scenarios of the use of force, etc. have been raised. Therefore, it is really important for us to state that not only on the day of voting, but also the following night, when the polling stations were counting votes, no systemic violations were recorded.”
President of Ukraine: “We have passed the test for our Europeanness. This means that we are doing everything right about the European course. This is in line with the European political culture and civilization standards of the European Union. I am strongly convinced that today Ukraine has successfully passed this exam. Moreover, on April 21 we will also cope with the task of protecting the will of people.”
3. CPLR assessment of the authorities counter-point
During the first round of voting at the presidential elections, there were no significant and systemic violations that could affect the outcome of the election, so it can be stated that the elections took place.
According to the results of the National Exit Poll published on March 31, the voting results for the first 5 candidates are as follows: Volodymyr Zelenskiy – 30.6%, Petro Poroshenko – 17.8%, Yuliia Tymoshenko – 14.2%, Yuriy Boyko – 9,7%, Anatoliy Hrytsenko – 7,1%. According to the results of the Central Election Commission’s calculation of 98.16% of ballots, the votes were distributed as follows: Volodymyr Zelenskiy – 30.24%, Petro Poroshenko – 15.93%, Yuliia Tymoshenko – 13.39%, Yuriy Boyko – 11,66%, Anatoliy Hrytsenko – 6,93%. According to the findings of the Civic Network “Opora”, the regular presidential elections of March 31, 2019 took place under competitive conditions and in compliance with the basic standards of this election, and cases of violations of national legislation did not become a critical obstacle for citizens to exercise their right to elect and be elected.
4. Related legislation/instructions which require the authorities act in a certain manner
The Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine “On the Election of the President”, the Law of Ukraine “On the Central Election Commission”.
5. CPLR expert suggestions on how to fix the problem using the legal instruments available in Ukraine
In summary, now the most important task for the Ukrainian State is to achieve the logical result of the election process – the inauguration of the newly elected President, and one can state that the first step towards successful implementation of this task was made. Repeated voting should take place on April 21.
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