Main innovations in the legislation on the 2014 Presidential elections in Ukraine

In a month, Ukraine will hold early elections for the President of Ukraine. Citizens will elect the Head of State on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot. These elections will be held in accordance with the Law “On Elections of the President of Ukraine”, to which a number of amendments and supplements have been made. Here are the most important ones for voters.

There will be no changes to the voter list on voting day!

It is worth remembering that only a voter included in the voter list at the relevant polling station will be able to vote during these elections. Changes to the voter list on voting day will not be made (except for correcting inaccuracies and technical errors), even by court decision, as was possible during the 2012 parliamentary elections. The current legislation does not provide for such an opportunity. Therefore, each voter should check his (or his relatives, friends, acquaintances) presence/absence on the voter list before voting day. Traditionally, this can be done at his polling station, where voter lists should be available for inspection no later than May 9.

Web resource “Voter’s Personal Account”

This year, an interesting innovation was introduced that can significantly simplify the process of checking their data on the voter lists for citizens who have access to the Internet. Today, the “Voter’s Personal Account” is already operational, located on the official website of the State Register of Voters. Thanks to it, spending about 5 minutes of time, you can check whether you are on the voter list and, if so, where (at what address).

When to vote?

The current presidential elections are scheduled for May 25, 2014. The candidate who received more than half of the votes of the voters who took part in the election will be considered elected President of Ukraine on election day. If there is no such candidate, the Central Election Commission decides to schedule repeat elections. The repeat voting is scheduled by the CEC for the third Sunday after election day. That is, most likely, the so-called 1st round of elections will take place on May 25, the results of which will determine the two candidates who will receive the largest number of votes from voters. And in three weeks, on June 15, during the 2nd round, the country will elect a new President.

Time to vote

On voting day, a voter can exercise their right to vote at a polling station from 08:00 to 20:00, and not until 22:00, as was the case in the 2010 local elections.

There will be no column “I do not support any candidate” on the ballot

This time, the ballot will not have the column “I do not support any candidate for the post of President of Ukraine”, as was the case in 2010. Therefore, voters must clearly determine their will regarding a specific candidate.

Video surveillance at polling stations is canceled

In these elections, the practice of using video surveillance to organize voting and vote counting at polling stations has been canceled. That is, this time there will be no webcams at polling stations on voting day, as was the case during the 2012 parliamentary elections.

Taking photos and showing your ballot is prohibited!

Another important innovation of the current elections is the strengthening of requirements for prohibiting violation of the secrecy of the vote. Currently, this includes a ban on taking photos, video recording in any way of the results of the vote in the booth for secret voting, as well as the demonstration by the voter of the results of the vote in the voting room. That is, voters are prohibited from taking photos of ballots with the results of their vote and showing them to everyone at the polling station.

Specialists of the All-Ukrainian Coalition for Legal Aid and the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights will provide more detailed information about the main stages of this year’s election process for voters in separate thematic detailed consultation materials during May-June as part of the implementation of “Protection of Civil and Civic Rights in Ukraine”.

To receive free legal assistance, including on election issues, residents of Chernihiv region can contact

Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights

at the address: 57/1 Gorkogo St., Chernihiv, 14000, hotline number: (0462)

612-532

.