The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine A. Avakov and the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council O. Danilov conducted a meeting of the coordination headquarters on local elections

In the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Ukraine chaired by the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov and the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov was held a coordination meeting of the headquarters to ensure transparency and legality of the election process.

According to the MIA press center, the meeting was attended by heads of central executive bodies coordinated by the Ministry, head of the “Opora” Civil Network Olga Aivazovska and member of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Iryna Yefremova.

"I want to address all participants of the election process to strictly abide the law, not to violate the campaigning rules, not to use illegal schemes and deals, not to destabilize the situation in their constituencies. The MIA of Ukraine has enough forces, means and motivation to control the pre-election process. We will toughly react to all attempts to create "pre-election networks", to bribery of voters, provocations and other violations. We have to formulate the role of everyone in the election process once again, to assess new risks, to develop algorithms of interaction. We have a clear plan of action, taking into account all the possible challenges of this election process. It, like the previous presidential and parliamentary elections, should be held within the bounds of the law", - Arsen Avakov said.

Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov emphasized that these elections are to be democratic, free and declared by all. Therefore, this issue is extremely important, because during all years of Independence, Ukraine never experienced such complicated elections, he said.

"First of all, I would like to draw attention to the fact that membership in the EU and NATO is determined by the norms of the Constitution of Ukraine, but in order to become a member of these structures, we must meet certain criterion, one of which is democratic, free elections. Moreover, these elections are to be declared by all. I also would like to draw your attention to the new administrative arrangement and the issue of elections in the amalgamated territorial communities, which provide access to land management. And many candidates and political forces will go to the polls in cause of these reasons. For example, today in Karolino-Bugaz village Odessa region, more than 19% of voters indicated their desire to change the place of voting. We observe similar anomalous processes in some regions. As for the vote counting, it will be extremely complicated and important. As for the voting of military men and law enforcement officers, who will ensure public order during the elections, our task is to give them the opportunity to vote as well”, - the Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine added.

The CEC member Iryna Yefremova noted that the election process can be divided into three groups - preparation, campaigning and elections.

"As for the preparatory process, for today territorial election commissions and constituencies are already established. The main problem in the preparatory period was the change of voting address. Registration of lists of political parties and candidates for deputies begins today. The candidate receives the right to campaign since the day after registration him by the election commission. And only from this moment they can be prosecuted for violating the election law", - she said.

The CEC member also added that the Elections Code stipulates that National Police officers come to their office 8 days prior to the elections day.

The CEC shares the opinion that this is a very long period of being at the voting station. We hope that the Verkhovna Rada will support a bill that will reduce the time of being of police officers at the voting stations. In addition, the CEC hopes for fruitful cooperation with the Border Guard Service of Ukraine (BGSU). The Cabinet of Ministers gave permission to international observers and international organizations to admit to the country during the local elections. That’s why, we ask the BGSU to respond to this promptly", - Iryna Yefremova said.

According to the head of the National Police Igor Klymenko, on September 5 the work of the situation center was launched, which will work around the clock until the election results will be announced. Police have already launched 44 criminal proceedings for violating the election process.

"18 of them launched before the election process, 26 - after September 5. This is mainly an prevention of using voting right. After the start of the election process - providing illegal information to the state register of voters and bribing voters. In two criminal proceedings four people are suspected", - Ihor Klymenko said.

The head of the National Police noted that the most typical schemes recorded by the police are providing monetary rewards for changing voting stations and votes for a certain candidate, as well as distributing free gifts to different segments of the population with candidate logos, food and hygiene products, organizing free trips.

"The National Police on-line monitors the situation with the violation of the election process and reacts accordingly. Together with representatives of the "Opora" Civil Network we created a chatbot in Telegram. It allows receiving information from the place of violations online, and the police will promptly check and respond to such reports", - Igor Klimenko added.

First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Serhiy Yarovy said that the MIA has an operational headquarters, which involves all units.

In the nearest time, it is planned to conduct command-staff exercises, which will be held remotely in cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) Mykola Chechotkin said that the SESU launched round the clock monitoring of fire and technotronic security in voting stations – there are more than 31,300 of them. At every object will be conducted unscheduled inspections of fire supply sources, determined routes of access for fire-rescue equipment.

In case of detection of explosive objects and delivery of operational groups or aeromedical evacuation 25 pyrotechnic teams and 9 aerial vehicles will be on round the clock readiness.

Head of the “Opora” Civil Network Olga Aivazovska said that online training for investigators and prevention police were launched.

"It is important not only to pay attention to current statistics on election law violations and opened criminal proceedings, but also to understand how many cases have been brought to court. If the society sees that violators of the election law get real terms and punishments, the elections will be held more honestly and transparently”, - she said.