Ukraine’s 2014 Early Parliamentary Elections in Numbers

1. Harmonize legislation and remove candidacy restrictions

Candidacy to run in elections is restricted due to an excessive five-year residency requirement, as well as restrictions on the freedom of mandate. Restrictions on electoral blocs should be lifted.

2. Investigate cases of violence

The Ministry of Internal Affairs recorded 3,711 cases of elections-related complaints and incidents between 25 August and 25 October. ODIHR observed 83 rallies where, in some instances, candidates were barred from campaigning freely.

3. Guarantee independence from political interference

Two thirds of the District Election Commissions (DECs) members were replaced, mainly by the nominating parties. This high turnover is believed to have partly been the result of wide-scale corruption among electoral subjects in order to control election commissions.

4. Make data entry transparent

ODIHR negatively assessed the tabulation processes in 60 of the 171 DECs observed. Overcrowding, cases of tension and unrest and the presence of unauthorized people interfered in the quality of the process. In most DECs, it was not possible to observe the data entry of results due to security measures.

5. Assess all complaints impartially

Over 85 per cent of complaints submitted to the Central Election Commission (CEC) were dismissed on minor technical grounds, such as failure to indicate complete contact information of the complainant.

6. Strengthen campaign finance transparency

Twenty-eight out of 29 political parties’ and 996 majoritarian candidates’ final financial reports were published on the CEC website. As most contestants were not required to submit interim financial reports, voters had little information about the amounts or sources of contestants’ campaign funds before election day.

7. Address women's under-representation

Only around 13 per cent of single-mandate district candidates were women. In total, 50 women were elected to parliament from out of 450 seats.

8. Delineate single-mandate electoral districts

An estimated 22.2 per cent of citizens are minorities. Although amendments from 2013 require that ethnic composition is reflected in electoral district delineation, boundaries were not redrawn before these elections. The Hungarian and Romanian minorities protested that the electoral districts from 2012 would again prevent them from securing majoritarian MPs.