QUARTERLY ACTIVITIES REPORT of Civic Network OPORA for the Period 1 April – 30 June, 2014

QUARTERLY ACTIVITIES REPORT of Civic Network OPORA For the Period 1 April – 30 June, 2014

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70

Зміст SUMMARY ...... 3 Political framework ...... 3 PROGRAM ACTIVITIES ...... 5 Objective 1: Fairness and integrity of key Ukrainian elections improved through domestic monitoring … 5

Long-term observation ...... 6 Public reports covering long-term presidential observation: ...... 6 Short-term observation ...... 8 Parallel vote tabulation (PVT) ...... 9 ELECTION DAY AND CALL-CENTER ...... 10 Objective 2: Political process legislation developed and implemented in a more inclusive and transparent manner and better conforms to European standards…………………………………………………………….………….. 12

Objective 3: Increased organizational and technical capacity of Civic Network OPORA……………………..… 14

OPORA’s PUBLIC OUTREACH AND INFORMATION STRATEGY ...... 145 Public events ...... 15 Information messages ...... 16 RECOGNIZABILITY OF THE ORGANIZATION IN MASS MEDIA ...... 19 The course of information campaign ...... 19 Regional division of references ...... 20 Web-resources ...... 20 Social media ...... 20 The evaluation of organization's sites ...... 22 OPORA's site...... 22 Results of public outreach and information strategy activities ...... 24 RESULTS FOR THE REPORTING PERIOD ...... 255 PLANS FOR THE THIRD QUARTER OF 2014 ...... 266

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70

SUMMARY Civic Network OPORA, which implements the project under Cooperative Agreement No.: AID-121-A-12-00004 with Modification #2 of 22 December 2013, presents a quarterly report on its activities for the period from 01.04.2014 to 30.06.14. During this period, OPORA has been realizing major project tasks and objectives set forth in the agreement. Within the monitoring campaign, OPORA conducted long-term and short-term observation of the early presidential election in every oblast. In 2014, 190 long-term observers analyzed the course of election campaign from official start to the announcement of winners. 2000 short-term observers joined them on the Election Day. On the basis of gathered data, OPORA prepared 8 interim reports on commission activities, nomination of candidates, campaigning, the use of administrative resource, vote count etc. Besides that, the organization has published results of the sample-based parallel vote tabulation (PVT or quick count), which is representative for the whole country and has a small margin of error compared to other types of research. OPORA has also conducted the parallel vote tabulation during Kyiv Mayoral and City Council elections, which proved the trustworthiness of the announced electoral results. Besides that, the organization was actively lobbying for electoral reforms under the Objective 2, and sponsored some amendments to the Law of Ukraine on the Elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Autonomous Republic of Crimea, to Local Councils, and of Village, Town and City Heads. In the previous reporting period, the organization has also elaborated and successfully lobbied for amendments to the Law of Ukraine on Election of the President of Ukraine. Unfortunately, the law on local elections was less interesting for MPs from the political perspective. Thus, the second reading was held after the election campaign had officially started. Still, this fact didn't affect the course of election campaign.

Political framework 2014 Special Election of the President of Ukraine was held in extremely complicated political situation. After events of November 2013 – February 2014 and flight of the President Yanukovych, the continuity of government principle was breached. The Russian Federation used the weakness of state apparatus and annexed the Autonomous Republic of Crimea under pretext of a referendum, which lawfulness was denied by Ukraine, world leaders, and reputable international organizations. Rhetorics of Russian leaders was based on the absence of directly elected President of Ukraine, and used to block any negotiations concerning events in Crimea, and in Eastern Ukraine some time later. Political confrontation in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts grew into armed conflict provoked by terroristic groups, receiving political support, resources and, some time later, arms from the Russian Federation. Unprecedentedly numerous Russian troops were staying at Ukrainian border and blocked full-scale anti- terroristic operation by a threat of possible intervention. Besides that, all major intergovernmental unions and organizations, including UN and European Union, participated in the discussion on how to resolve conflict relatively peacefully: without intervention of the RF for alleged protection of Russian speaking citizens. This plan included election of the President of Ukraine Thus, the Commander in Chief, Guarantor of the Constitution and key person who takes decisions on geopolitic vector of the state was to be lawfully elected. While in the end of February and in March the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine was acting as a relatively undivided body, which took decisions by the constitutional majority, in the middle of the election campaign, rhetorics of some MPs became openly pro-Russian and in support of terroristic groups in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. On

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70 the basis of these facts, the Office of Prosecutor General has launched investigation after on the Communist Party of Ukraine and some MPs. In particular, the ex-candidate for the President Oleh Tsariov, which was later deprived of the mandate and parliamentary immunity, is now wanted. Law-enforcement bodies and the army didn't manage to overcome internal and external terroristic threats, which directly influenced the election process. However, the ATO and a number of decisive appointments made the morale and efficiency of the army grew. In such terms, the conduction of fair elections was not only the question of government staffing, but also of Ukraine's territorial integrity. Elections in Ukraine were held in correspondence with the legislation and democratic standards. Votes were counted fairly, and no violations which could have influenced the final election result were detected. Despite the campaigning was complicated in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and it's difficult to say that is was unrestrained, we may say that opportunities were quite equal for all participants. OPORA's summary is based on the results of long- and short-term observation, criteria and principles of democratic elections established by documents of the Venice Commission, Copenhagen Conference, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). OPORA's observers adhered to the Declaration of Global Principles for Nonpartisan Election Observation and Monitoring by Citizen Organizations. Presidential elections were held during temporary occupation of the AR Crimea and illegitimate activities of terroristic groups in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. In result, activities of state's enemies hindered realization of voting rights of citizens. Despite such context has decreased the national turnout, it's total level was quite representative – around 60%. The Parliament has amended the Law on Election of the President of Ukraine on the basis of expert recommendations provided by local non-governmental organizations and recommendations of international monitoring missions. Besides that, after activities of terroristic groups in the East of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada has introduced a number of innovations for additional security of commissions and transportation of election documentation. Thus, the Parliament has adequately reacted to the demands of experts and worsening of safety in the country. Activities of terroristic groups were aimed to create a system of intimidation, threats, and pressure upon the voters and commission members, in order to prevent their free participation in the elections. The disruption of voting in 14 of 22 districts of Donetsk oblast and 10 f 12 districts of Luhansk oblast is the direct result of such criminal activities of these persons. There were 213 district election commissions created, 24 of which didn't manage to fulfill their duties on the election day because lives and health of Ukrainian citizens were under threat. The violations, reported by OPORA's observers, considerably differ from violations reported in 2010 and 2012. While the most common violations of the last campaigns were: abuse of administrative resources and voter bribery, in 2014 the most common are: disregard of campaigning rules and obstruction to the electoral process. While the first common violation appeared in result of candidates' abuses and don't have considerable influence on election results, the second is directly related to confrontations in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. The candidates didn't manage to provide enough qualified candidates for members of election commissions, what resulted in constant personnel rotations in commissions. Thus, not all members of DECs and PECs were ready to organize the electoral process on high level. In result, OPORA's observers reported 168 procedural

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70 violations on the election day. Simultaneous conduction of presidential, mayoral, and local council elections with small number of commission members at precincts became the reason of long queues at polling stations. In some polls in Kyiv, the voters had to wait for hours to vote. According to the legislation, all voters who entered the polling station until 8:00 PM have the right to vote. However, because of long queues and crowds in some ED in Kyiv, the voting continued to 11:40 PM. The Law wasn't violated, but the vote count was delayed. Law-enforcement bodies in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts failed to secure due safety during special elections of the President. Thus, official investigations should be started and personnel decisions should made. Law- enforcement system needs to be reformed and personnel must be re-attested. The Vybory Information System had suffered a cyber attack on the eve of election day. In result, it functioning wasn't stable and data from vote count protocols was entered very slowly at most of DECs. IT safety should become one of the topical issues in the election process, what will help to secure data retention, verify the protocols, and quickly provide information about the course of electoral process and voting results to the public. Local elections, also scheduled for 25 May 2014, were held on lower level of quality than presidential elections. Major violations, not typical for national elections, were bribery, unfair campaigning, and administrative resource. Such situation one more time proves that elections of different levels shouldn't be held simultaneously.

PROGRAM ACTIVITIES OBJECTIVE 1: Fairness and integrity of key Ukrainian elections improved through domestic monitoring

Civic Network OPORA realized a full-scale presidential election monitoring campaign, which became one of the most loaded and diverse campaign for the whole history of the organization. The network of proactive observers was not only collecting information for reports, but also secured fairness of the campaign. In particular, a number of informational and visual materials were created to increase voter awareness, attract citizens to the observation, and urge them to actively protect their rights. OPORA was also supported by the Central Election Commission. It provided a letter of support and called the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting to air all awareness videos on central TV channels and oblast broadcasting companies. Besides that, OPORA prepared 7 series of the TV program "Before You Vote", broadcasted on the 1st National TV Channel and on the Hromadske TV. TV program was focused on electoral procedures and rights, as well as role of observers. Authors and journalists informed the society about candidates' opinions on the topical issues. Every program included synchronous interviews with all candidates except for Yuliia Tymoshenko, as long as we didn't manage to arrange the record with her. OPORA conducted 2000 STOs for PVT. It included two separate samplings for the presidential election campaign (1500 STOs) and Kyiv mayoral and city council elections (500 STOs), and 4 sampling formats for elections in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. We prepared two extra samplings for these 2 oblasts, where anti-terroristic operation was conducted, in order to be ready for different scenarios.

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Long-term observation During the reporting period, 150 long-term observers were recruited for observation during presidential election campaign, and 15 LTOs for observation during early local elections, scheduled for 25 May 2014. Each of 150 LTOs responsible for presidential election observation was coordinating monitoring efforts in nearly 1,5 electoral districts They worked in districts from the training date till determination of election results in the certain oblasts. OPORA's observers were provided with resources to rent car with a driver. Thus, they were able to conduct long-term election observation in their oblasts, visit large number of events held by candidates, promptly react upon violations or even prevent them, and attend all the important meetings of district election commissions. OPORA has signed agreements on confidentiality of specified and internal data with all LTOs. This was done to prevent leakage of information about forms of observation, work plans, and observers' location. During the observation campaign, long-term observers were constantly gathering information about political situation in districts, reported about violations, and sent operative reports on resonant events or key stages of the election process organization. For example, they reported about formation of DECs and PECs, distribution of managing positions, transference of electoral documentation and organization of the elections. Long-term observers had an additional task to recruit short-term observers in raions of oblasts. They also helped oblast coordinator to train and verify knowledge of activists, organize logistics and support STOs during the election day. One observer deployed by OPORA has been visiting all meetings of the CEC to promptly provide information about current and resonant decisions taken by the Commission. The observer has been also preparing information messages for OPORA’s social networks, analyzing resolutions and regulations passed by the CEC, writing analytical notes for reports on the results of long-term observation.

Public reports covering long-term presidential observation: 1) Report on the candidate registration process: http://oporaua.org/en/vybory/zvity/article/4471-zvit- za-rezultatamy-dovgoterminovogo-sposterezhennja-opory-pid-chas-pozachergovyh-vyboriv- prezydenta-vysnovky-ta-analiz-etapu-rejestraciji-kandydativ and http://oporaua.org/en/vybory/zvity/article/4473-vybory-prezydenta-2014-kandydaty-na-starti- vyborchoji-kampaniji 2) Short analysis of income declarations of presidential candidates: http://oporaua.org/en/vybory/zvity/article/4472-deklaraciji-kandydativ-na-post- prezydenta-ukrajiny-pershyj-test-na-vidkrytist 3) Interim report on the results of long-term observation (March – 8 April): 4) http://154.35.172.120/en/vybory/zvity/article/4578-promizhnyj-zvit-za-rezultatamy- dovgoterminovogo-sposterezhennja-gromadjanskoji-merezhi-opora-pid-chas-pozachergovyh-vyboriv- prezydenta-ukrajiny-2014-roku-berezen-8-kvitnja 5) Report on the formation of DECs and their first working days: http://oporaua.org/en/vybory/zvity/article/4679-utvorennja-ta-pochatok-roboty-ovk-na- pozachergovyh-vyborah-prezydenta-ukrajiny and http://oporaua.org/en/vybory/zvity/article/4678- vybory-prezydenta-za-misjac-do-volevyjavlennja

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6) Interim report on the results of long-term observation campaign (April): http://oporaua.org/en/vybory/zvity/article/4864-promizhnyj-zvit-za-rezultatamy- dovgoterminovogo-sposterezhennja-gromadjanskoji-merezhi-opora-pid-chas-pozachergovyh-vyboriv- prezydenta-ukrajiny-2014-roku-kviten 7) Report on the formation of PECs and their first working days: http://oporaua.org/en/vybory/zvity/article/5164-zvit-utvorennja-dilnychnyh-vyborchyh- komisij-na-pozachergovyh-vyboroh-prezydenta-ukrajiny-25-travnja-2014-roku 8) Political map of temporarily occupied territory of the AR of Crimea: http://oporaua.org/en/vybory/zvity/article/5387-politychna-karta-tymchasovo-okupovanoji- terytoriji-avtonomnoji-respubliky-krym-pershyj-zvit-opory 9) Interim report on the results of long-term observation campaign on the eve of election day: http://oporaua.org/en/vybory/zvity/article/5445-promizhnyj-zvit-za-rezultatamy- dovgoterminovogo-sposterezhennja-gromadjanskoji-merezhi-opora-pid-chas-pozachergovyh-vyboriv- prezydenta-ukrajiny-2014-roku-1-23-travnja Besides that, OPORA published 14 (7 in April and 6 in May) monitoring reports on long-term observation during elections to local self-government bodies in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv cities, and Luhansk oblast: Kyiv http://oporaua.org/vybory/zvity/article/4968-vzvit-za-rezultatamy-sposterezhennja-za-pozachergovymy- vyboramy-miskogo-golovy-i-deputativ-kyjivskoji-miskoji-rady-kviten-2014-roku Cherkasy http://oporaua.org/vybory/zvity/article/5147-osoblyvosti-vyboriv-prezydenta-ukrajiny-u-cherkaskij-oblasti http://oporaua.org/vybory/zvity/article/5799-zvit-za-rezultatamy-sposterezhennja-za-pozachergovymy- vyboramy-cherkaskogo-miskogo-golovy-traven-2014-roku Chernivtsi http://oporaua.org/vybory/zvity/article/4967-zvit-za-rezultatamy-sposterezhennja-za-pozachergovymy- vyboramy-cherniveckogo-miskogo-golovy-kviten-2014-roku http://oporaua.org/vybory/zvity/article/5406-zvit-za-rezultatamy-sposterezhennja-za-pozachergovymy- vyboramy-cherniveckogo-miskogo-golovy-traven-2014-roku Sumy http://oporaua.org/vybory/zvity/article/5069-zvit-za-rezultatamy-sposterezhennja-za-pozachergovymy- vyboramy-sumskogo-miskogo-golovy-kviten-2014-roku http://oporaua.org/vybory/zvity/article/5504-zvit-za-rezultatamy-sposterezhennja-za-pozachergovymy- vyboramy-sumskogo-miskogo-golovy-traven-2014-roku Odesa http://oporaua.org/vybory/zvity/article/5141-zvit-za-rezultatamy-sposterezhennja-za-pozachergovymy- vyboramy-odeskogo-miskogo-golovy-kviten-2014-roku

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70 http://oporaua.org/vybory/zvity/article/5492-zvit-za-rezultatamy-sposterezhennja-za-pozachergovymy- vyboramy-odeskogo-miskogo-golovy-traven-2014-roku Mykolaiv http://oporaua.org/vybory/zvity/article/5142-zvit-za-rezultatamy-sposterezhennja-za-pozachergovymy- vyboramy-mykolajivskogo-miskogo-golovy-kviten-2014-roku http://oporaua.org/vybory/zvity/article/5800-zvit-za-rezultatamy-sposterezhennja-za-pozachergovymy- vyboramy-mykolajivskogo-miskogo-golovy-traven-2014-roku Luhansk region http://oporaua.org/vybory/zvity/article/5143-zvit-za-rezultatamy-sposterezhennja-za-perebigom- pozachergovyh-miscevyh-vyboriv-na-luganshchyni-kviten-2014-roku We didn’t publish the second report on the results of observation during local elections in Luhansk oblast, as long as these elections were not held due to separatist activities in this region.

Short-term observation OPORA started recruiting STOs right after the early presidential elections were scheduled. For this purpose, a sample electronic application was placed on the organization's website for activists willing to become observers. During registration, all activists were obliged to know the Code of conduct for civic observers and choose the oblast for observation. The application was advertised by OPORA through internet (social networks and blogs) and the TV program "Before You Vote", which was broadcasted on the First National TV Channel and the Hromadske TV. More than 800 persons registered during the first week. OPORA informed them about training dates and last observation news. Having received enough applications in three weeks before the Election Day, OPORA stopped advertising the electronic form. The simplified registration form for mobile devices was available at: http://oporaua.org/sto/ Before the trainings, OPORA developed a manual and training plan for STOs. 2000 copies of the manual were printed in a month before the Election Day. Training of trainers was conducted in three weeks before the voting day. During the training, all oblast coordinators and LTOs, who could be trainers, were explained how to train STOs, which issues require special attention, how SMS simulation of the voting day will be organized, and how to develop safety plans for short- term observation in oblast etc.. Besides that, training participants discussed presentations created by OPORA's analysts for trainings in oblasts, and questionnaires for STOs with incident report samples. Trainings for STOs started two weeks before the Election Day. In some oblasts, trainings were conducted in the last week before the Election Day, because the lists of STOs to be deployed in raions and oblasts were made only after the sampling was finished three weeks before the voting day (after the CEC published the final list of polling stations on 6 May). Before the trainings, every oblast coordinator was instructed on how to fill in STO reporting forms, send them in text message, and avoid typical errors, so that they could explain activist’s basic principles of the PVT before its simulation test. Only in Kyiv, where organization of the PVT during mayoral and city council elections required 500 STOs, the training started ywo month before the voting day. The simulation of SMS reporting from STOs who passed the training was conducted five days before the election day. More than 70% of STOs had passed the training on that moment. There were two reasons why

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70 simulation was necessary: to make sure that the SMS receiving software was stably functioning, and to verify the quality of STO trainings in oblasts. Oblast coordinators received access to the SMS receiving software in order to watch how well STOs in their oblasts were sending reports, which typical errors were made, and who made such errors. The latter allowed to provide additional instructions for the certain STOs, or even substitute them if they still didn't manage to send reports accurately. Each STO sent one SMS report at the certain time, according to the instructions they received on the trainings. More than 60% of STOs sent the reports successfully, small number of them made minor errors and managed to improve their skills, and only some didn't manage to complete the task and were promptly substituted. OPORA decided to leave SMS receiving software functioning till the end of trainings in oblasts, so that all STOs could train sending text messages if oblast coordinators decide to conduct additional trainings. On the Election Day, STOs came to the certain polling stations before the morning meeting and watched the preparations and voting process during the time established by the Law. In Donetsk oblast, only 20% of the planned number of STOs came to polling stations. It happened due to the impossibility to guarantee health and safety of STOs in the oblast, where anti-terroristic operation was conducted, and because logistics were unavailable where transport infrastructure was demolished (roads, river bridges). Besides that, LTOs and coordinators had gathered information about districts where DECs were not formed and, therefore, elections couldn't have been held. OPORA announced in advance that in the best-case scenario, only a half of DECs would be opened on the Election Day in this oblast. In result, in 14 of 22 districts didn't participate in the election process. In Luhansk oblast, all short-term observers came to polling stations selected by sampling and sent a special SOS text message from the polling stations where the voting failed to start. Besides that, observers didn't manage to watch the election process at nearly 15 selected polling stations because of force majeure or because they were placed in isolation hospitals. Each STO sent 9-11 codified SMS reports on the course of the voting process to the processing center; they used unique reporting forms. As long as the organization conducted observation during local elections in Kyiv, 500 STOs there sent 2 more reports after the vote count (protocols on the mayoral election results, and on party lists to the city council). It was planned that STOs would send 8-10 reports, but after it became clear that not all who wanted to vote could use their right because of long queues, OPORA decided to add one more report on queues at polling stations as of 8:00 PM. All observers were timely and accurately reporting to the OPORA during the voting process and after vote count at polling stations. The results on local elections in Kyiv were delayed for the longest time. The last STO had received the vote count protocol and sent the report from the polling station at 2:40 AM on 28 May. During the Election Day, OPORA's observers filed nearly 100 statements of complaint on electoral violations, which were reported by them in SMS. Almost 70 of them were in Kyiv.

Parallel vote tabulation (PVT) OPORA started preparing to the PVT yet on 1 April. Firstly, we forecasted possible errors and discussed the form of STO report. Then, OPORA with technical support from National Democratic Institute (NDI) developed a preliminary sampling, which was provided to obast coordinators for early STO recruitment and logistics planning for the Election Day. The final sampling plan was sent to oblast coordinators on 10 May, after the CEC published the final list of polling station on 6 May. On the training for trainers, before the election observation, and during the sampling, we repeatedly emphasized when instructing oblast coordinators and LTOs that sampling, STO form, and secret codes of STOs were classified information and mustn't be disclosed. OPORA has been using secret codes of STOs since 2012,

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70 so that malefactors couldn't intercept mobile phone numbers of STOs and send fake reports. Before any report, STOs write their secret code in SMS, and system verifies it with phone number in the database. OPORA's central office prepared "filled-in STO forms". Every oblast received one large file ready to be printed, with generated forms of STO reports, simulation form, and forms for incident reporting for each STO, with their secret codes and addresses of polling stations. This measure facilitated activities of oblast coordinators, who saved time on preparation of materials to printing, and prevented mistakes that could have been made during dissemination of secret codes. During observation of early presidential elections, OPORA for the first time provided separate incident reporting forms for observers at polling stations. In addition to reports on violations in regular SMS reports, observers filled in separate inquiries about the reported incident, in order to provide full information. Such incident reporting forms also contained instructions on sending special SMS reports in case of violations which could have influence on election results, or situations hazarding life or health of observers. Nearly 30 incidents were reported by such special text messages, but none of them concerned hazard to observers. Other violations were reported in regular STO reports. Data form polling stations were collected by specially developed software. It order to prevent possible provocations, OPORA STOs sent SMS reports to German phone number, which transferred the received data to the internal system for analysis. This very software was used by OPORA's call-center to supplement information from polling stations, and by a group collecting information about the course of the voting process. The software allowed operatively collecting and verifying information from polling stations, track gaps in reports, and filling them in by call-center operators. Results of the parallel vote tabulation of Presidential election were presented on the national press conference held in the UNIAN by OPORA on 26 May: http://oporaua.org/en/vybory/vybory-prezydenta- 2014/article/5696-vybory-prezydenta-ukrajiny-pidsumky-sposterezhennja-opory and http://oporaua.org/en/vybory/vybory-prezydenta-2014/article/5695-zvit-za-rezultatamy-sposterezhennja-u- den-golosuvannja; http://oporaua.org/en/vybory/vybory-prezydenta-2014/article/5737-pidtrymka- kandydativ-u-okrugah-analiz-oficijnyh-rezultativ. The PVT Results of Kyiv mayoral and city council elections were published on 27 May: http://oporaua.org/vybory/miscevi-vybory-2014/article/5705-rezultaty-paralelnogo-pidrahunku-golosiv- opory-na-vyborah-mera-kyjeva http://oporaua.org/vybory/miscevi-vybory-2014/article/5711-rezultaty-paralelnogo-pidrahunku-golosiv- opory-na-vyborah-do-kyjivrady

ELECTION DAY AND CALL-CENTER During the election day, LTOs assisted to oblast coordinators, secured logistics of STOs, observed activities of district election commissions, provided support to STOs in mobile groups, and recorded violations if informed about any. OPORA received these information about violations in an electronic violation report form http://test.oporaua.org During the election day, two moderators verified reported violations and published them on the map of violations http://map.oporaua.org

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To collect information about the course of election process and violations reported by STOs, OPORA organized its own call-center. Call-center collected all SMS reports and reports about incidents. OPORA was constantly analyzing reports, specifying information about violations, and preparing presentation materials on violations and tends of the election day (functioning of polls, regional turnout, typical incidents etc.). To facilitate these activities, special software was developed. It was promptly finding previous information to specify analytical data. During training of STOs, we emphasized that reports should contain as precise data as possible. To verify the accuracy, OPORA and NDI had jointly developed a system of logical verification for SMS reports. Each answer in reports received from observers was analyzed for correspondence with previous or official data, not to mislead the public. Call-center operators and a group collecting information were constantly verifying the reports, communicating with STOs, and helping to find inaccuracies. Such verification of data was important for faster publication of PVT results. OPORA's call-center was hosted by a partner organization, which had also helped with facility security, allowed to use some its computers, and provided necessary communications. In addition, OPORA rented 5 computers for call-center operators. A special local network was created for the call-center (in order to prevent external break-ins and accelerate the processing of information). Besides that, a separate server was adjusted to administer the network and analyze information. Call-center operators were recruited one and a half months before the election day. OPORA hired 32 operators, which worked in 2 shifts and one shift on Monday (to collect information from STOs watching Kyiv local elections). We preferred those operators who had already worked with us, and proved themselves through their hard work and responsibility. We have also conducted training for them to show the system, explain their tasks, and give possibility to try everything in practice.

Objective 2: Political process legislation developed and implemented in a more inclusive and transparent manner and better conforms to European standards. Early presidential election, as well as Kyiv mayoral and city council elections stimulated reforms of electoral legislation. A short-term reform was the goal, which brough positive results. The special election campaign was held on the basis of amended Law of Ukraine on Election of the President of Ukraine. In February-May 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed 6 legislative acts, which amended the election procedures. In particular, after the PECs started functioning, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine had to cut their minimum membership to solve the understaffing problem. The last amendments to the electoral law were made on may 20, in 5 days before the election day. Despite the fact that these changes were positive, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine failed to comply with the standards securing stability of the electoral law. Simultaneously, complicated socio-political and crime-breeding situation in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts required adoption of special legislative acts securing safety during the voting process. In particular, the CEC was allowed to change the location of polling stations, open them within other territorial election districts; safety requirements for transportation of election documentation were strengthened; the time constraints for transmission of election documents were shortened. OPORA positively assessed these efforts of the government aimed to secure safety of the election process. Besides that, OPORA prepared a number of propositions to the Law of Ukraine on Election of the President of Ukraine, most of which were taken in consideration and adopted by the Parliament. Propositions concerned deploying more representatives of law-enforcement bodies to guard electoral documentation and

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70 voting premises, as well as attraction of the Security Service of Ukraine to safety issues during the election process. Amendments were approved on May 2014. In April - June 2014, the organization worked on the amendments to the Law of Ukraine on the Elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Autonomous Republic of Crimea, to Local Councils, and of Village, Town and City Heads. Taking into consideration that amendments to the most criticized law were not adopted before the beginning of campaign on 4 April, OPORA implemented a small advocacy campaign. The campaign included analysis of amendments submitted by MPs, which included recommendations of the OPORA, public discussions of the most dangerous regulations, which would hinder the due conduction of local election campaign, and preparation of materials for the media, urging MPs to actively draft new amendments. In result, all recommendations of the OPORA were adopted in the second reading on 8 April, except for two rounds of mayoral elections. This regulation became politically motivated and was blocked by the UDAR party and a part of parliamentary majority. Regulations, which were adopted in the law, were promoted by the Civil Network OPORA.

• Giving Ukrainian civic organizations the right to observe the election process; • Using regular polling stations for the elections, created during 2012 Parliamentary elections; • Possibility of substitute members of election commissions instead of their withdrawal; • Obligation to provide supporting documents in order to get the right to vote at home; • Allowing self-nomination to candidates for MPs and for city mayors; • Territorial election commissions cannot cancel candidate's registration for errors and inaccuracies in submitted documents; • Candidates' registration cannot be canceled after two warnings concerning violation of electoral legislation; • Regulation of political advertising rules; • Wider rights of national observers, in particular the right to receive copies of protocols on vote count; • Cancellation of voting "Against all"; • Territorial election commissions are deprived of the right to declare voting at a polling station void (what considerably affected voting results in 2010).

For the first time in the history of Ukraine, safety issues became topical during the election campaign when it came to the realization and securing of citizen electoral rights. Therefore, a number of decisions were made at the state level in order to minimize threats to commission members and voters, prevent the widening of the territories controlled by terrorists, and secure the needed legislative changes. The Civic Network OPORA appealed to the National Security and Defense Council with a proposition to gather an Interdepartmental meeting on the matter of securing the conduct of the presidential election with the participation of the MIAU, Border Guard forces, SBU, Office of the Prosecutor General, CEC, MFA, NSDC, and NGOs. Such an initiative received positive feedback and practical results. Participants and organizations gave security and law enforcement agencies recommendations for strengthening the protection of election commissions, personal protection of commission members, and safety measures for the transportation of election documentation etc. Acting President of Ukraine and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov signed the Order to provide due security for premises of district and precinct election commissions, as well as of the State

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Voter Register maintenance bodies during the preparation and conduct of the special presidential election on 25 May 2014, which approved a number of safety measures during the election campaign. Besides that, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted amendments to the Law of Ukraine on Election of the President of Ukraine, submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which were signed by the Acting President on 15 May and directly concerned safety issues during the elections. It is expected that the MIA of Ukraine secure 24h guard of district election commissions (DECs) not later than 10 days before the election day, and upon a request of the Central Election Commission, the guard of State Voter Register maintenance bodies, if it's necessary. Besides that, as an exception, at the request of the corresponding Head of Oblast State Administration, district election commissions (DECs) may be relocated, even to another territorial election district. The State Voter Register maintenance bodies shall provide one copy of the preliminary voter list and printed personal invitations (according to Article 32(2) of this Law) to the corresponding precinct election commissions not later than ten days (16 in the previous wording) before the voting day, inside their own premises. This innovation is aimed to protect citizen personal data and prevent terrorists from stealing of voter lists in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts with a purpose to threaten and intimidate citizens and unlawfully use their personal data. Besides that, time constraints for the delivery of personal invitations to vote were changed. Hence, transportation of election documentation from PECs to DECs (documents are listed in Article 79(10) of the Law of Ukraine on Election of the President of Ukraine), shall be implemented by the head of precinct election commission or deputy head and two members of this commissions, guarded by employees of the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, or by employees of the Security Service of Ukraine, if the Central Election Commission requests. Only one MIA guard was provided by the previous wording. Safety issues during elections could have been solved more efficiently if there was a constantly acting coordinating center between law-enforcement bodies and organizers of the elections on national and regional levels, as well as timely developed and approved plan of measures to counteract the disruption of election process. For example, only on 19 May (5 mays before the election day) the central apparatus and oblast departments of the Security Service of Ukraine created operative headquarters for coordination of and cooperation in safety measures with other law-enforcement bodies and state authorities responsible for organization and conduction of special elections. Only on 22 May the highest state authorities and NSDC started daily reporting on changes in the situation, which could have negative impact on the election process. Safety measures and protection against illegal attempts to disrupt the election process or interfere in it should be analyzed by state authorities and non-governmental organizations. To sum up, the experience of 2014 Presidential election should be supplemented and taken in consideration during special elections to the Parliament, which are expected to be held soon. Civic Network OPORA communicated with the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and initiated the interdepartmental meeting on the basis of the NSDCU concerning the plan of safety measured during the election process.

Objective 3: Increased organizational and technical capacity of Civic Network OPORA. During the reporting period, OPORA didn't conduct any activities within Objective 3. The organization was allowed to postpone this project component till 31 August 2014 due to the huge amount of work to be done within Objective 1 and 2, and organization of large-scale observation campaigns during the elections.

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OPORA’s PUBLIC OUTREACH AND INFORMATION STRATEGY During the reporting period, OPORA's information activities were focused on coverage of the observation campaign, the course of special election of the President of Ukraine and some local elections scheduled for 25 May 2014, public pressure on state officials, responsible for organization and conduction of the elections, and lobbyingfor amendments to the Law of Ukraine on Election of the President of Ukraine, as well as Law on the Elections of Deputies to the Verkhovna Rada of AR Crimea, Deputies of Local Councils, Village, Town and City Heads Information strategy goals, implemented by the press-service during the period from April 1 to June 30, 2014:

• Coordinating the network of press-secretaries (25 press-secretaries – one in every oblast and in Kyiv city) during election of the President of Ukraine and local election campaigns in 2014, controlling the implementation of tasks (April-June 2014); • Filling in the following OPORA's sites with the content: http://oporaua.org/, http://map.oporaua.org/, http://study.oporaua.org/; • Optimising search engine for the site www.oporaua.org by increasing its relevance to specific keywords connected to the elections and violations; • Developing the training course for civic observers - http://study.oporaua.org/; • Designing mobile app on Android "Elections - manual for observers" - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.egovernment; • Promoting OPORA's pages on Facebook and Twitter, increasing the number of subscribers and active visitors; • Facilitating cooperation with the Hromadske TV, producing the TV program "Before You Vote"; • Attraction of national and regional TV and online media to OPORA's awareness campaign and dissemination of animation videos; • Expanding contacts database containing information on mass media, journalists, representatives of international organizations and other interested circles; • Presenting the observation as independent and unbiased, and delivering its main messages to the public; • Creating branded products for OPORA's observers (T-shirts, badges, badge straps etc).

In order to accomplish the abovementioned goal, PR-department consisting of PR-manager and two text- writers worked in the central office during this period. During the full-scale campaign of long-term observation of 2014 Presidential election and elections to local councils, a network of 25 regional press secretaries was created. They started working on 1 April 2014. An additional press-service of 3 press secretaries and 2 translators was working during the Election day, which processed information from regional sources and published it on the site.

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Public events Civil Network OPORA has conducted 6 press conferences in Kyiv during the period from April 1 to June 30, 2014. On April 4, OPORA with the Committee of Voters of Ukraine and the Internews-Ukraine organized a press conference on the topic: "Local elections jeopardized." The issue was quite topical, as long as blocking of making amendments to the Law on Local Elections could have created a precedent, when elections were repeatedly organized according to the most harshly criticized electoral legislation in Ukrainian history. Besides that, the old wording of the Law wouldn't secure the proper organization of the campaign in Kyiv, and would remove potential self-nominated candidates from the competition. Olha Aivazovska, Oleksandr Chernenko and Yevhen Radchenko told why MPs block positive amendments and who benefits from that. 17 journalists registered on the event. On 18 April, OPORA held a press event on the topic "Presidential Election: one month before the voting day", with Olha Aivazovska and Oleksandr Kliuzhev as speakers. The current presidential election campaign was conducted in the most difficult conditions for the whole history of independent Ukraine. As the political crisis and confrontations continued, they hazarded the voting process, vote counts and other legal procedures. During the event, speakers told about local activeness of candidates, activities of election commissions in the continental Ukraine, and first summary and recommendations to render disruption scenarios impossible. 15 journalists received accreditation for this press conference. OPORA's press conference "Interim summary of observation conducted by OPORA: safety and guarantees of free elections" was held on 30 April. Olha Aivazovska was the speaker. During the event, the interim report on the summary of election monitoring campaign in April was presented, as well as main tendencies in this year's race and hazards for the preparation and conduct of the elections on the certain territories. Registration of presidential candidates has ended in late March, and the active stage of electoral process has started. However, the external threat has already become a destabilizing factor for the preparation and conduct of election campaign in Ukraine. Besides that, some candidates had directly or indirectly affirmed that the elections can be disrupted. In addition, there was a problem with securing electoral rights of citizens living on occupied territories of the AR Crimea and Sevastopol, and in some settlements of eastern Ukrainian oblasts, where "separatist movements" have stirred to activity. The permanent change of membership of district election commissions, activeness of candidates, peculiarities of campaigning in the regions, and possible hazards and ways to minimize disruption of the elections in eastern and southern Ukraine were discussed. 10 representatives of mass media attended the press conference. On 14 May, Olha Aivazovska and Oleksandr Kliuzhev were speaking on OPORA's press-conference "Presidential election: The process continues, threats are still topical" Speakers presented the interim report on electoral observation campaign, told about main hazards for the election campaign on the certain territories. Besides that, they presented an interactive Map of violations "2014 Elections", which is updated in real-time. We remind that May 6 was a deadline for the creation of over 33 thousand precinct election commissions, according to the effective legislation. However, not all the oblasts managed to create them in time. Stirring up of "terroristic movements" and armed unknown persons, particularly in the certain settlements, endangered the functioning of some PECs and DECs in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Nevertheless, most of Presidential candidates were paying campaigning visits to regions, but not to eastern ones, however. 19 journalists registered on the event. On 23 May, activists organized a press conference "On the eve of the Election Day: OPORA presents preliminary results of electoral observation". On the eve of the Presidential election, OPORA presented preliminary

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70 summary of election monitoring campaign. In particular, the organization reported on complications in functioning of election commissions, as well as violations and abuses, committed by participants of the election process, such as abuse of administrative resource, unlawful campaigning etc., which were detected by observers during the electoral process. Besides that, experts told whether polling stations were ready to conduct the voting process, and aired their forecasts on the course of the Election Day. Olha Aivazovska, Oleksandr Kliuzhev, and Oleksandr Neberykut will present information about the observation campaign in detail, including activities of short-term observers on May 25. 23 representatives of mass media attended the press conference. On 26 May, the day after the Election Day, OPORA organized a press event "Presidential Election: Summary of observation conducted by OPORA". OPORA promulgated the information about voter turnout and results of voting during special elections of the President, based on the quick count results, conducted by the organization. Thanks to more than 2,000 observers, deployed in all Ukrainian oblasts, representatives of Civic Network OPORA promulgated monitoring results, particularly information about violations on polling stations. Speakers Olha Aivazovska, Oleksandr Kliuzhev and Oleksandr Neberykut have also analyzed activities of state bodies and institutions, responsible for the organization of elections, during the voting process, tabulation and processing of votes. 25 journalists came to the event. Besides that, OPORA has conducted a final press conference "Results of Presidential election observation campaign and visions of the country's future". On 14 and 15 June, OPORA's activists together with political correspondents, journalists, media managers and experts of the election law discussed the course of 2014 election campaign, challenges of the last year and current ones, as well as possible solutions for efficient activities of the public and community. In average, 3 press-conferences were held in every oblast: on the course of election campaigns held by candidates, preliminary observation results on the eve of the election day, and on the election day results.

Information messages 1250 information messages covering presidential and local election observation campaign including articles, reports, press releases, news, infographics, and video, were published on OPORA's site from April 1 to June 30. In particular, 154 news were published on the Election Day. It should be mentioned that all national reports on observation campaign, as well as most of key articles; press- releases and statements were also published in English on OPORA's site. During this period, 3347 publications and video news releases with reference to OPORA, comments of activists and information provided by the organization, appeared in the media. The references also appeared in English: Kyiv Post, The New York Times, International Business Times, The Guardian, BBC etc. Articles of OPORA's activists on electoral topics were published on the LIGABusinessInform Information Agency, information portal lb.ua, Ukrainian weekly newspaper in English Kyiv Post. During this period, 3347 publications and video news releases with reference to OPORA, comments of activists and information provided by the organization, appeared in the media.

Major information trends in the period from from April 1 to June 30, 2014 • Traditional technologies won't work on 25 May, the election day

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• OPORA urges to fairly hold Mayoral elections in Chernivtsi, activists will watch the election process • The CEC has registered 14 candidates for the President • Black PR disseminated against Turchynov and Yatseniuk in Chernivtsi • The unknown propose money for promotion of a candidate in social network • Local elections jeopardized • CVU and OPORA demand that MPs amended the Law on local elections • Leader of the student Euromaidan in Ivano-Frankivsk Maksym Kytsiuk confirmed that he intends to get mandate in the Parliament • 2014 Presidential Election in Ukraine: candidates on the start of the election campaign • The wealthiest Presidential candidate – Tihipko, the poorest one – Yarosh • Who candidates' headed election headquarters in Rivne • A group of MPs block amendments to the electoral law, - OPORA • In Vinnytsia, people are going to throw eggs at Yuliia Tymoshenko • Presidential election campaign in Ukraine has started • Liashko's election campaign frightened Carpathians • OPORA alleges false start of Odarych • OPORA: Due to the possible "invasion" of Russia, the election campaign is slower than ever • The prosecutor's agency investigates alleged bribery of voters in Cherkasy in 2013 • Luhansk police do not resist separatists • Dobkin and Tsariov won't have representatives in Lviv DECs • Find yourself in the voter list through internet • The CEC has formed election commissions for Presidential elections • Crimean citizens will be able to temporarily change their voting location and vote on 25 May • The CEC refused to register Serhii Shchetynin – no monetary pledge • OPORA informed about the most active Presidential candidates • OPORA presents preliminary results of electoral observation • OPORA: Only 3 women are candidates for the President of Ukraine, the average age is 50 • Organizers of the elections in Volyn oblast receive little financing, not enough even on paper • Luhansk police do not resist separatists • OPORA: how to vote at a polling place other than where you are registered? • OPORA PRESENTED A VIDEO DEDICATED TO THE ELECTIONS • OPORA told about elections and presented a map of violations • Only one third part of Donbass electorate will be able t vote on 25 May, experts say • Ukrainians will elect today the President, mayors, and members of Kyiv council • Carousel voting suspected on a precinct in Cherkasy. Police verifies the information • DPR terrorizes precinct commissions on the Election Day • Heads of PECs refused to provide copies of tabulation protocols for observers, OPORA says • OPORA promulgated results of preliminary vote count • Turnout from the OPORA • Five parties elected to Kyiv Council, OPORA says • OPORA comments on the victory of Oleksandr Shevchenko on the Parliamentary elections • OPORA: These elections — one of the best in Ukraine

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• "Before the Parliament will be dissolved, the politicians will negotiate" — expert

Information provided by the Civic Network OPORA for mass media The central office of the Civic Network OPORA informed mass media by sending them press-releases on themes listed below. Regional branches were spreading information on local electoral issues and disseminated mostly national press-releases.

• Local elections jeopardized. The Law should be urgently amended; • 2014 Presidential Election in Ukraine: candidates on the start of the election campaign; • Declarations of candidates for the President of Ukraine: the first openness test; • Unusual scenario of the election campaign: the stronger external aggression is, the less campaigning materials we see; • The CEC has formed election commissions for Presidential elections; • Presidential election: a month before the election day; • Creation and first working days of DECs during the snap election of the President of Ukraine; • In April, Presidential candidates have intensified their campaigning; • Most frequently used words in election programs of 2014 Presidential candidates; • Elections FAQ: You are not included to the voter list. What to do? • Analysis of word relation in texts of election programs; • Elections FAQ: Campaigning: what is it and who pays for it; • Elections FAQ: how to vote at a polling place other than where you are registered; • Since May 9, voters can go to polling stations and check whether they are included in voter lists; • The voters in Kyiv have learned about possibilities to protect and realize their rights; • Unstable situation in the regions alters the election process during the Presidential race; • Verkhovna Rada has strengthened safeguards for commission members and electoral documentation: DECs will be guarded 24h; • 171,078 Ukrainians have changed the voting location. Citizens of Lviv, Kyiv, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts are the most active; • International observers on Presidential elections: 19 countries and 20 international organizations are represented; • Political map of temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea; • On the eve of Presidential Election: Summary from OPORA; • Presidential election: Ukrainians are voting today; • Turnout on special election of the President, according to OPORA; • Fast information from OPORA: the voting in Ukraine started in calm atmosphere. Only Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts are unstable; • Most typical violations during the Presidential elections: preliminary data presented by OPORA; • STATEMENT on results of observation conducted by OPORA; • Presidential Election in Ukraine: Summary of observation conducted by OPORA; • Results of the parallel vote tabulation conducted by OPORA during Kyiv Mayoral Elections; • Results of the parallel vote tabulation conducted by OPORA during Kyiv Elections to the City Council;

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• Support of candidates in the districts. Analysis of the official results; • Presidential Election: Activeness of the voters on the Election Day; • Open appeal to the President of Ukraine, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, leaders of groups and factions, Members of Parliament; • Presidential Election: correlation between the number of voters and election results – correlation diagrams of election results; • Final conference held by OPORA: visions of the country's future after the elections.

RECOGNIZABILITY OF THE ORGANIZATION IN MASS MEDIA

The course of information campaign According to the monitoring conducted by press-service of the Civic Network OPORA, 3347 publications and video news releases with reference to OPORA, comments of activists and information provided by the organization, appeared from April 1 to June 30, 2014. 3347 If we analyze the flow of references during this period, we'll see that most of references them were made in May – the period when candidates campaigned most to OPORA actively, election commissions were formed, situation on the Eastern Ukraine worsened and, after all, when the people voted for the future President. In the period from April 1 to June 30, 2014 most of references to activities of Civic Network OPORA were noticed in on-line media – 2923 references, or 87%. During the reporting period, OPORA was mentioned in 179 video news releases on TV (6 % of all media references). TV channels were actively covering OPORA's events, invited activists to guest TV programs, interviewed them. We managed to closely collaborate with some national TV channels (112 Channel, Hromadske TV, 5th Channel, the Rada TV channel, the Pershyi Natsionalnyi (the Fisrt National), ICTV). It should be mentioned, that all national channels were interested in OPORA's researches during the election period. Thanks to the last observation campaign, the public became more confident in OPORA as an organization which provides unbiased information. Thus, the demand for observer's researches has also increased. Besides that, the Revolution of Dignity facilitated openness of TV channels. For example, during 2010 Presidential election campaign, the candidates bought newspaper columns and littered them with campaigning materials. OPORA organized press-conferences dedicated to dirty campaigning. Now, as a result of events on the Maidan, mass media didn't want to sell themselves, and searched for other information sources about elections - appealed to OPORA's activists. During the reported period, OPORA's activists have participated in radio programs 39 times (1 % of media activeness). The press-service noticed 90 references to OPORA in newspapers (3%). We have all reasons to consider this data is not complete, because a lot more printed media published information presented by the Civil Network OPORA but, due to the impossibility to monitor them all. Despite the fact that there was only 2 % (77 references) of references in information agencies, they played essential role, because on-line media actively used information provided by such agencies.

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Internet publications 2923 87% Television 179 6% Radio 39 1% Printed media 90 3% Information agencies 77 2% Other 39 1% Total 3347 100%

Regional division of references Journalists and representatives of Civic Network OPORA in Ivano-Frankivsk, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Vinnytsia, and Rivne oblasts were the most active in the regions (not including Kyiv). A lot of information materials were published in Zakarparttia, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Volyn, and Kherson oblasts. Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts were the least active in media activities because of activities of terroristic groups.

Web-resources Social media

Facebook, Twitter, Youtube Social media was the most actively used for spreading information. In particular, press-service daily published news on Facebook page of the Civic Network OPORA and Twitter. The most active visitors of OPORA's page on Facebook are young people from 25 to 34 years old, which make up 21 % of all visitors of the page. As for the gender composition, 56 % of users – are men and 44 % – women. The number of "Likes" shows how many people are subscribed to the news from the page and that users of the social network approve materials from observers. In late January 2014, OPORA's page on Facebook was "liked" by 5,275 users; the number of "likes" has increased to 6,159 till the end of June 2014. The largest number of people (20,359) visited OPORA's Facebook page on May 28. It's related to the fact that OPORA published results of the parallel vote tabulation conducted during local elections in Kyiv. The number of visitors had suddenly risen on May 9 after OPORA published that May 8 is a deadline for the transference of preliminary voter lists and personal invitations to precinct election commissions of regular polling stations. It means that the voters could go to polling stations and check whether they are included in voter lists since May 9. 10,743 on the Election Day opened the Facebook page. During the whole day, press-service published news received from observers at polling stations. OPORA has 6,522 followers on Twitter. OPORA's tweets were often retweeted by journalists of leading media and statesmen, what have facilitated popularization of OPORA's page. It should be mentioned, that a lot of media created their news messages on the basis of OPORA's tweets.

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In the period from April 1 to June 30, 2014 there were 124,192 reviews of video on OPORA's Youtube channel. 792 people "liked" the video and left 114 comments. 333 people shared videos in their profiles. Besides that, recorded broadcasts with OPORA's activists were placed on the YouTube. Press-service of the OPORA was weekly uploading videos of the TV program "Before You Vote" before it was broadcasted on Hromadske TV.

Awareness animation videos On the beginning of May, OPORA created a series of animated videos in order to increase awareness of the voters, members of election commissions, and the public concerning electoral procedures on the election day and voting rights of citizens (particularly possibility to change the voting location). The target audience for the first video, "How to change the voting location" (in Ukrainian with Russian and Crimean Tatar language, watched 23,864 times on OPORA's YouTube channel) were citizens of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, and persons who planned to change the voting location. The video supplemented an article on this topic "Elections FAQ: how to vote at a polling place other than where you are registered", published on OPORA's site. It should be mentioned that only 5152 Ukrainians changed their voting location on the beginning of May. However, after the OPORA's awareness campaign was launched on 9 May, the number of voters who changed their voting location had increased in 33 times (to 171,078) during two and a half month. The Central Election Commission and state authorities didn't conduct any active awareness campaign. The second video "Election Day: How it happens" (in Ukrainian with English and Russian subtitles, watched 27,947 times on OPORA's YouTube channel) depicted the Election Day from the preparatory meeting of precinct election commission at 7:15 AM and beginning of the voting process, till the polls are closed at 8:00 PM. The third video "Vote tabulation at PECs" (watched 7,369 times on OPORA's YouTube channel) depicts the vote count process, starting from the summarizing meeting of PEC to the transference of protocols and electoral documentation to district election commissions, and closing of PECs. Thanks to cooperation with leading Ukrainian and regional media, websites, and organizations, awareness videos were broadcasted for free on leading TV channels (Pershyi Natsionalnyi, Hromadske TV, 24 Channel, 112 Channel, 5th Channel, ZIK, Espresso TV), Internet resources (pravda.com.ua, radiosvoboda.org, tsn.ua, theinsider.ua, ictv.ua and nearly 200 other sites), and were actively disseminated in social networks. Thus, the audience could be measured in hundreds of thousands and even millions of people.

TV program "Before You Vote" TV program "Before You Vote" – joint project of the OPORA and the Hromadske TV, aimed to inform citizens about the course of presidential election campaign and help them to become knowledgeable voters. Hosts Yuliia Bankova and Andrii Saichuk were weekly covering 5 main blocks:

• the course of election campaign (particularly party congresses, nomination of candidates, their visits to regions, violation of campaigning regulations); • rubric "Portrait of a candidate", containing information about 2-4 candidates (biographies, tax declarations, main topics of political programs);

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• rubric "There is a question", in which candidates answered questions on topical issues, which characterized their political position (concerning joining NATO, status of Russian language in Ukraine, appointment of prime-minister in case of victory) and personality (music tastes, the last book read and inspiring historical figure); • principles of democratic elections (particularly standards or democratic elections and electoral law, international experience of party and campaign financing), as well as electoral procedures in Ukraine (powers and functions of election commissions), campaigning regulations (campaigning "for", "against", and "black PR"), typical campaigning violations (particularly voter bribery, the use of administrative resources), procedures of election commissions during the election day, procedure of changing the voting location, vote count procedure at precinct election commissions); • Examples of civic involvement in election monitoring (real stories of OPORA's observers about voter bribery, unlawful campaigning, and attempts to falsify electoral protocols; interactive Map of violations, where any activist could add violations of electoral legislation with proofs). In April-May, 7 series of the TV program "Before You Vote" were broadcasted live every Sunday in prime-time (7:00 PM). Each series were 17-24 minutes long. Recorded series were placed on internet-resources of the Hromarske TV (site, YouTube channel, Facebook page) and of the OPORA (site, YouTube channel, Facebook page). TV program contained infographics, designed by the OPORA, and a series of OPORA's animated awareness videos about the functioning of election commissions during the election day, procedure of changing the voting location, and vote count procedure at precinct election commissions.

The evaluation of organization's sites OPORA's site From April 1 to June 31, 2013, OPORA's site oporaua.org was visited by 152,256 internet users. 100,423 of them are unique. In general, visitors watched 2 pages. The average time spent on a page was 2 minute 14 seconds.

152,256 100,423 unique visitors visitors on on OPORA's site OPORA's site (4/1/2014- (4/1/2014- 6/30/2014) 6/30/2014)

The highest number of visitors on OPORA's site was noticed on the beginning of May 2014, and continued till the end of June this year, during both Presidential election observation campaign on May 25 and observation of the EIT. 85.18 % of users entered OPORA's site from computers; 14.82% from smartphones and tablets.

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70

More than 50% of users entered OPORA's site through Google; 5% - through Twitter and Facebook; 4%- through VKontakte and Yandex. Users, who entered OPORA's website through Google, were staying in average for 2 min. 46 sec. Ukrainians visited the site most often – 138,558 persons (91%). Citizens of the US are on the second place: 2484 persons visited the site (1.63%). Russians took the third place: 1674 persons (1.10%).

MAP of observation Map of observation http://map.oporaua.org/. The most important for interested citizens was information about violations reported by observers. It was described on the MAP with additional photo- or video evidences. If our reader witnessed the violation and was ready openly report about it, we accepted the information. Nevertheless, ОPORA, added such information to the MAP only after a thorough verification of the information, in accordance with generally recognized principles of observation. ОPОRA During the whole election campaign, 694 incidents and violations were added to the MAP. In particular, about the voter bribery, violation of election campaigning procedures, participation in or influence on the election campaign by officials, influence of law enforcement agencies, hindrance to the conduction of election campaign, putting pressure upon mass media, falsification of the election documentation, violation of the secrecy of voting, manipulations with bulletins, damage of ballot boxes, illegal voting, procedural violations. Besides that, the MAP allows to familiarize with voting results in every oblast. The number of visitors for May and June was 74,251, including 46,964 unique. More than 85% of visitors on the MAP were Ukrainians, nearly 5% – Russians, and 2% of US citizens.

74,251 46,251 unique visitors visitors on the on the site MAP site MAP (4/1/2014- (4/1/2014- 6/30/2014) 6/30/2014)

Civic Network OPORA has developed a widget which could be used by anyone to to publish the number of violations divided into types on their sites. A special widget was developed for regions, displaying information for the certain oblasts. In general, this opportunity was used by nearly 40 news sites, both national and regional.

Training platform for election observers In May 2014, the site http://study.oporaua.org/, the training platform for election observers, was launched. Everyone interested and those who joined civic observation could get information on how the electoral process is organized, how to observe it, react on violations and be efficient. Every witness of falsifications could leave a notification on site about what he/she saw. The platform is also unique because of legal references available on

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70 it. In particular, the link http://study.oporaua.org/site/page/formy-skarg/ provides sample complaints and reports about main violations of electoral legislation.

Observer's manual For owners of smartphones, tablets, smartbooks, or netbooks on Android OS, OPORA created free mobile application "Elections - manual for observers". Mobile application "Elections - manual for observers" has a number of documents, necessary for every official observer, active voter, or member of election commission:

• Law on the Election of the President of Ukraine; • General instructions for observers; • Sample complaints and claims against unlawful actions and inaction of the corresponding bodies, as well as administrative and criminal violations. The mobile app was available for downloading on the siteor on the Android Play Store. Nearly 1000 persons used that opportunity. Results of public outreach and information strategy activities

• More than one and a half thousand of media covered observation of special elections of the President, mostly national socio-political on-line resources. • The biggest number of references to the work of the Civic Network OPORA observers appeared in the following national mass media: Komentari, Hromadske TV, Fakty, Liga, newsdaily.com.ua, Ukrainska Pravda, Interfax, Livyi Bereh, 112 Channel. • The most active regional media were: Briz (Ivano-Frankivsk), VolynPost (Lutsk), VinnytsiaOK (Vinnytsia), Pro Vse (Cherkasy), Vse (Rivne), erve.ua (Rivne), galinfo.com.ua (Lviv), 7 Dniv (Uzhhorod), Dzvin (Cherkasy), kirovograd.net (Kirovohrad), Bukovynska Pravda (Chernivtsi), Molodyi Bukovynets (Chernivtsi), zakarpattya.net.ua (Uzhhorod). • 1250 information messages were published on OPORA's site. • The most resonant information messages concerned: amendments to the law on local elections; stage of registration of candidates for the President of Ukraine; candidates' election campaigns; formation of precinct and district election commissions; escalation of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine; change of the voting location and verification of voter inclusion in the voter list; course of the election day; election results. The largest number of references to OPORA was noticed in May. • Representatives of the Civic Network OPORA, particularly electoral and parliamentary program coordinator, analysts and regional coordinators, were experts in matters related to the electoral monitoring campaign during special elections of the President of Ukraine on 25 May 2014. • Almost all references to OPORA were neutral, i.e. texts were simply copied, or journalists referred to OPORA as a source of information, or used comments of activists. Only a little part of references to OPORA was negative. In particular, saying that OPORA and CVU "decided to play lustration" (online media from Cherkasy); OPORA "took the Government's side" (one reference in online media); and materials, in which OPORA's information was tried to be used in dirty technologies (online media in Vinnytsia). • In April-May, 7 series of the TV program "Before You Vote" were broadcasted. It is a joint project of the Civic Network OPORA and Hromadske TV, aimed to inform citizens about the course of election campaign and help them to become knowledgeable voters. The program contained some rubrics. In the

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70

rubric "Portrait of a candidate", hosts Yuliia Bankova and Andrii Saichuk will tell the audience about biography of four candidates "There is a question" – rubric in which candidates answered questions on topical issues, particularly about joining the NATO, the status of Russian language in Ukraine, appointment of prime-minister in case of victory etc.. The rubrics "Electoral instruments" explained procedural issues. The most popular series concerned the procedure of changing the voting location; it was shared thousands of times. • Journalists were actively disseminating infographics, created by OPORA's designers to illustrate OPORA's researches, and representatives of foreign missions in Ukraine expressed a positive opinion about it. Infographics allowed to quickly learn about declarations of candidates, information about commission members, voter lists, voter turnout, election results etc.. • In order to draw attention of the audience, OPORA created image products for the period of civic observation during early presidential elections and local elections. All OPORA's observers received branded T-shirts, polo t-shirts, and badge straps. Thus, the organization increased its prestige and "advertised" independent observation. • Every information message, provided by the OPORA to mass media companies, was published and spread, what means that information agencies, TV channels, magazines and newspapers of national and regional levels trust information provided by the organization and consider it reliable. • Information provided by the Civic Network OPORA formed trends for discussion in mass media, became basis for prepared materials.

RESULTS FOR THE REPORTING PERIOD During the reporting period, the organization achieved the following results: Under objective 1: 1) OPORA conducted a long-term and a short-term observation of the early presidential election in every oblast of Ukraine with 190 long-term observers worked during election campaign from its official start till the announcement of the results and more than 2000 short-term observers joined them on the Election Day. 2) the successful conduct of the PVT quick count allowed for assessing the accuracy of the vote count and tabulation process with minimal margin of error. OPORA has also conducted the PVT of Kyiv Mayoral and City Council (party lists) elections, which proved the trustworthiness of the announced electoral results. 3) the technical base for short-term observation and parallel vote tabulation (PVT) was perfectly functioning despite complications in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts; 4) long-term observers prepared analytical materials on the course of election campaign, used by Ukrainian and foreign media and international missions for assessment of the elections; 5) OPORA developed and implemented a number of safety measures for observers, what prevented tragic situations during the observation, and allowed to fully accomplish all monitoring tasks. 6) the observation process covered all Ukrainian regions including Eastern, where most of the missions including OSCE, CVU, Canadian ect., refused to send their observers; 7) the organization efficiently cooperated with leading TV channels and secured wide broadcasting of voter awareness and mobilization videos on the rights of social advertising;

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70

8) a number of technical innovations, created and provided for the wide range of users including civic activists and journalists: mobile applications about observation, instructions, manuals; 9) one of the widest online mobilization campaigns for recruitment of observers was conducted; 10) OPORA prepared the TV program "Before You Vote" about mobilization and awareness of voters and observers, and broadcasted it on the 1st National Channel and the Hromadske TV; 11) OPORA's observation results were for the first time widely broadcasted by international media and used by analysts;

Under Objective 2: 1) elaborated propositions and successfully lobbied amendments to the Law of Ukraine on Election of the President of Ukraine and Law of Ukraine on the Elections to the Verkhovna Rada of AR of Crimea, to Local Councils, and of Village, Town and City Heads; 2) elaborated propositions and initiated the group under the National Security and Defense Council on special safety measures during the election process; the certain recommendations were taken into consideration and adopted by the corresponding state authorities on the highest level;

PLANS FOR THE THIRD QUARTER OF 2014 During the 3rd quarter of 2014, Civic Network OPORA plans to carry on realization of the following project tasks: 1) to prepare a network of observer for possible early elections to the Parliament; to train future LTOs, prepare educational and training materials, assess the efficiency of the network during the previous campaign, and plan how to increase the quality of activities; 2) to prepare IT tasks for potential developers of sites: map of violations, updated website of the Civic Network OPORA and software for collection of SMS reports from short-term observers; 3) to develop an information strategy for the period till 31 December 2014 with consideration of possible early parliamentary elections; 4) to prepare propositions to the Law of Ukraine on Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine and advertise them to facilitate adoption, to build communication and cooperation with the VRU Committee on State Building and Local Self-Government, conduct jointly organized events; 5) to draft amendments to the Law of Ukraine on Political Parties of Ukraine, join the discussion about normative regulation and transparency of funding for parties and election campaigns; 6) to create branded products for the parliamentary observation campaign; 7) to create and broadcast new information product, similar to the TV progral "Before You Vote", jointly realized by OPORA, the Hromadske TV and the 1st National TV Channel. New TV program will focus on early parliamentary elections; 8) to develop Organisational Capacity Building Plan (OCBP) till 31 August and start its implementation in the 3rd quarter of 2014; 9) to conduct a pilot regional school of civic activism, dedicated to electoral issues, political analytics, sociology, and other types of researches applied to analyze political processes. to improve education, knowledge and skills of its regional representatives, partners and colleagues, and find talented young people to attract them during the next monitoring campaigns;

01103, Kyiv, Pidvysotskoho St. 10/10, office 3 www.oporaua.org, [email protected] +38 044 286 26 70

10) to finish international financial audit for 2013, started on 1 July 2014; 11) to finish and print the final report on 2014 presidential elections, containing assessment, summary, recommendations and detailed analysis of the election campaign.