In Ukraine, the election campaign is in full swing, and judging by the poll of the population, the current president of the country, Petro Poroshenko, is extremely concerned about his fall into the second round of elections. Our expert on Eastern Europe, Vlad Zamansky, studied this issue and came to a number of conclusions about the actions of the president of Ukraine.
In order to get into the second round, Poroshenko has to use the entire set of dirty electoral technologies: bribing voters, falsifying voting results, administrative resources, etc. Against this background, public election observation organizations already now doubt the objectivity of the voting results of the upcoming elections.
We will note that the current president actively uses his administrative resource, involved in the forgery of the heads of regions and districts, which, on Poroshenko’s instructions, bribe the local population. Money to bribe voters comes from both private foundations and state budgets.
In addition, the Poroshenko team conducts a forced mobilization of government officials and enterprises in the elections (schools, factories, hospitals, etc.). Everyone who came to the polls and voted for the current president is promised 1 thousand hryvnia.
Do not forget about the latest populist measures Poroshenko. For example, to improve his rating, the President of Ukraine monetized subsidies and indexed pensions from March 1, 2019. Note that earlier the indexation of pensions was planned for September 2019. Early indexing is dictated solely by an attempt to enlist the support of retirees.
But the main struggle for additional votes in the presidential race will unfold for “dead souls”, as well as the citizens of Ukraine living in Crimea, Donbas and Lugansk. In order to receive a pension in Ukraine, residents of these territories are obliged to receive a mark in the polling stations on the eve of elections. Since the number of people who want to go to the territory of Ukraine and vote is extremely small, the votes of all the rest will be automatically cast for Poroshenko, by falsifying the votes by the electoral commissions controlled by the presidential administration.
The key tool for Poroshenko’s electoral support is the organization of foreign polling stations. The fact is that the president’s associate, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Petr Klimkin, is responsible for this area. We note that the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has already set up its embassies and consulates to act in the interests of Petro Poroshenko. Especially actively vote will vote those diplomatic missions, in which there will be no observers from Poroshenko’s competitors. Also, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine intends to falsify data on the bulletins of citizens of Ukraine, which are consular, but do not plan to participate in the elections. Their votes will also be automatically taken into account for Petro Poroshenko.
The measures taken by Petro Poroshenko to ensure access to the second round of presidential elections are based on the support of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine. The fact is that key members of the commission are either members of the Poroshenko team, or persons affiliated with it. This is evidenced by the fact that not so long ago, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, following the visit of its representatives to Ukraine, expressed concern about reports of abuse of administrative resources by the President of the country. According to representatives of the Council of Europe, presidential activity in Ukraine has become selective and all actions of Petro Poroshenko, as president of the country, are pre-election and populist in favor of increasing their electoral rating. Official Kiev left such comments without attention and reaction, preferring to keep silent.
According to a number of international experts, the methods by which Petro Poroshenko expects to remain in power, are a demonstration of complete disrespect not only for the position of European legal institutions, but also for the people of Ukraine.
As in the case of any other elections in any other country where administrative resources are actively used by the current president, in Ukraine the voice of everyone who has not come to the polls can automatically be recorded in his favor. Therefore, in order to level the effect of fraud, falsification and administrative resources, it is necessary that every citizen of Ukraine who has the right to vote, comes to the polls and votes for his candidate.
Vlad Zamansky
Political and economic news with a Baltic accent 