Live Blog: Parliamentary Elections In Ukraine

This live blog is no longer being updated. Thanks to everyone for following, reading, and sharing. For the latest from Ukraine, go here. 

Via Ukraine's Central Election Commission -- with 83% of the vote counted:

Party of Regions: 32.1%
Batkivshchyna: 23.9%
Communist Party: 14%
UDAR: 13.4%
Svoboda: 9.5%

Via Ukraine's Central Election Commission -- with 78% of the vote counted:

Party of Regions: 32.7%
Batkivshchyna: 23.5%
Communist Party: 14.2%
UDAR: 13.3%
Svoboda: 9.3%

Serhiy Vlasenko, lawyer of the imprisoned former prime minister and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, speaking today at a news conference in Kharkiv, reading out Tymoshenko's statement about her decision to launch a hunger strike in protest against alleged vote-rigging in yesterday's  election.

"If I were with you now and had an opportunity to act freely I would without doubt call on you to stage an indefinite civil disobedience action and we together would show these forgers their place as we've done many times in the past. But now, being behind bars, I cannot call on you to come out to the square because I cannot guarantee that such gatherings will be peaceful and well-organized so I do all I can do under such circumstances -- I declare hunger strike to protest against fake elections and illegitimate parliament."

Marcin Grajewski, spokesperson for the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, tells RFE/RL: 

"He (European Parliament President Martin Schulz) regrets many shortcomings in the ballot. In particular, he is concerned by the lack of a level playing field among political forces caused, among other reasons, by an abuse of administrative resources. He also noted that campaign and party financing lacked transparency. Also, media coverage was tilted in favor of the ruling party and (the) continued imprisonment of government opposition activists castes a show over the election campaign."

Via Ukraine's Central Election Commission -- with 74% of the vote counted:

Party of Regions: 33.1%
Batkivshchyna: 23.3%
Communist Party: 14.4%
UDAR: 13.2%
Svoboda: 9.1%

As the vote counting continues, eyes turn to the single-mandate districts.

The latest:

Yulia Tymoshenko has announced that she is going on hunger strike to protest election results that she calls "rigged." [story in Ukrainian]

Via Ukraine's Central Election Commission -- with 69% of the vote counted:

Party of Regions: 33.5%
Batkivshchyna: 23%
Communist Party: 14.5%
UDAR: 13%
Svoboda: 9%

Via Ukraine's Central Election Commission -- with 66% of the vote counted:

Party of Regions: 33.8%
Batkivshchyna: 22.7%
Communist Party: 14.6%
UDAR: 13%
Svoboda: 8.8%

Walburga Habsburg Douglas, head of the OSCE observer mission in Ukraine, spoke to reporters today in Kyiv about yesterday's elections. Some quotes are below. Read the full OSCE statement here.

IRI’s delegation: uneven campaign playing field causes #Ukraine elections to fall short ow.ly/eQrvy #elect_ua #UkraineVotes

— IRI (@IRIglobal) October 29, 2012

OSCE and other observers says that "democratic progress seem to have reversed" in Ukraine and that election was "a step backward".Worrying

— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) October 29, 2012

Via Ukraine's Central Election Commission -- with 58% of the vote counted:

Party of Regions: 34.5%
Batkivshchyna: 22%
Communist Party: 15%
UDAR: 13%
Svoboda: 8.6%

Via Ukraine's Central Election Commission -- with 54% of the vote counted:

Party of Regions: 35%
Batkivshchyna: 22%
Communist Party: 15%
UDAR: 13%
Svoboda: 8.5%

Via Ukraine's Central Election Commission -- with 49% of the vote counted:

Party of Regions: 35.06%
Batkivshchyna: 21.95%
Communist Party: 14.92%
UDAR: 12.87%
Svoboda: 8.31%

Whatever the outcome of the #Ukraine election, interesting to see four (or more?) genuinely independent parties getting seats. Not #Russia

— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) October 29, 2012

#Ukrainevotes. PoR & Communists doing better that in exit polls, esp in constituency seats: could be trouble ahead! bit.ly/ezyPbW

— The EIU EEurope Team (@TheEIU_EEurope) October 29, 2012

The OSCE will hold a press conference at 2:30pm local time on the election monitoring mission in Ukriane. We will embed the live video here.

Via Ukraine's Central Election Commission -- with 46% of the vote counted:

Party of Regions: 35.15%
Batkivshchyna: 21.9%
Communist Party: 14.94%
UDAR: 12.87%
Svoboda: 8.26%

Via Ukraine's Central Election Commission -- with 43% of the vote counted:

Party of Regions: 35.35%
Batkivshchyna: 21.71%
Communist Party: 15.01%
UDAR: 12.88%
Svoboda: 8%

Official election results as of ~30 minutes ago:

Party of Regions: 35.72%
Batkivshchyna: 21.49%
Communist Party: 15.14
UDAR: 12.80%
Svoboda: 8%

As you can see, the results are divergent from last night's exit polls, with the Party of Regions and Communists doing better, and every other major party down a bit. The exit poll averages from last night: 

Party of Regions: 29.96%
Batkivshchyna: 23.77%
UDAR: 14.33%
Svoboda: 12.49%
Communist Party: 11.74%

And....we're back.

It's Monday morning in Ukraine, and we are shutting down this live blog for the day. On turnout estimated at just below 60%, here is how the main parties faired according to exit polls conducted by five different organizations (read full wrap up):

Party of Regions: 29.96%
All Ukrainian Union "Fatherland:" 23.77%
UDAR: 14.33%
Svoboda: 12.49%
Communist Party: 11.74%

Keep in mind that these exit polls are only for districts voting on party lists, which represent half of the seats in parliament. The other half come from majoritarian districts, from which exit poll numbers are just beginnning to trickle out. Readers can find a detailed explainer on Ukraine's system here.

There were numerous complaints of fraud (link in Ukrainian) both from political parties and non-partisan observers, as well several reports of alleged cyber attacks against observer web sites, political sites, and even the web hub of President Viktor Yanukovich's Party of Regions (some video samples here and here). We expect statements from observer groups tomorrow. 

Thanks to all who helped (especially our colleagues at Radio Svoboda in Ukraine), contributed, and -- most importantly -- read this blog.

Finally, for those of you who somehow missed it, a panda votes:

TNS Ukraine and Socis exit poll results on majoritarian candidates:

Party of Regions 27.79%
Independent candidates - 19.29%
All Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" - 18.32%
UDAR - 10.42%
Communist Party - 8.58%
Svoboda - 5.80%
Other parties - 9.81%
 

We missed this one before. A woman appears to be stuffing several ballots at a ballot box in Dniepropetrovsk.

Vladimir Yelchenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, quoted (RU) as saying that only 741 out of 42,000 officially-registered Ukrainians in Russia voted. “The weather conditions played their part -- it was raining and snowing. Besides, one couldn’t include him or herself on the list on the day of elections. People didn’t register on time or were misdirected.”

A wrap up of the elections in #Ukraine at this point bit.ly/S3dt4P #вибори2012 #elect_ua

— RFE/RL (@RFERL) October 28, 2012

Via Ukraine’s Central Election Commission -- Based on 35 out of 225 voting constituencies, preliminary results put turnout at 56.76%. Turnout was heaviest in Lviv (68.36%), Kyiv (68.95), and Lugansk (57.68). The lowest (so far) turnout was in Kherson (47.53) and Crimea (47.92).

Viktor Yanukovich's term as President runs out in 2015 but there is already talk of early presidential elections. Oleg Turchinov from All Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" speaking at a press conference a few minutes ago. 

 “Now the most important question is the early presidential election,” Turchinov said.

All the voting cabins are pretty much the same in Yalta, so the voting is not very secret.

В Ялті майже скрізь ось такі кабінки, тож голосування тут - вже не таємне. twitter.com/prytulav/statu…

— Володимир Притула (@prytulav) October 28, 2012

Radio Svoboda correspondent Halyna Tereshchuk reports:

“A wedding was taking place in one of the buildings with a voting station. The members of the election commission collected money to buy the newlyweds a carpet.”

Viktor Taran, analyst and co-founder of the NGO Chesno to Radio Svoboda (watch live in Ukrainian): 

"The number of violations among majoritarian candidates is several times bigger, than the ones committed by the candidates from the party lists. The most widespread violation is buying votes and using administrative resources."

Via Radio Svoboda.

“We counted on 15%, I said it. We made it clear. There will be no cooperation with the Party of Region or communists. First we have to protect the votes and then unite. I think we will do it with the Fatherland and Svoboda.”

The vote counting is underway. However, the official Facebook page of All Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" says that 80 already signed documents with voting results were found in two voting districts of Kiyv.

Five different orgnazations (including the National Committee) released different exit poll results. We calculated the averages below: 

Party of Regions: 29.96%

All Ukrainian Union "Fatherland:" 23.77%

UDAR: 14.33%

Svoboda: 12.49%

Communist Party: 11.74%

Keep in mind that these exit polls are only for districts voting on party lists. 

RFE/RL Ukrainian Service colleague notes that these exit polls are only for districts voting on party lists. Majoritarian districts -- which make up half of the parliament -- are not included in these polls.  

Svoboda is big surprise 12,3 % just days ago people wonder if they would break the 5 % barrier #Ukrainevotes

— Just Hovens Greve (@JustHovensGreve) October 28, 2012

Exit poll results conducted by the sociological group, Rating. 

Party of Regions: 27.6%

All Ukrainian Union "Fatherland:" 23.4% 

UDAR: 14.3%

Svoboda: 12.5%

Communist Party: 12.5%

Ukraine Forward: 1.6%

National exit poll results from the National Committee.  

Party of Regions: 28.1 % 

All Ukrainian Union "Fatherland:" 24.7% 

Udar: 15.1%

Svoboda: 12.3%

Communist Party: 11.8%

Ukraine Forward: 1.6 %

The symbol of today’s elections will definitely be Panda. Panda has already voted, have you?

@spa7id Панда уже проголосовала за твою свободу,а ты? #Вибори2012 #elect_ua #Кличко #УДАР #ukraine #BreakingNews youtu.be/M_JadlQQ7SM

— Viktor Atos (@VikAtos) October 28, 2012

The polls are closing in less than 30 minutes. Here is a summary of the six major political parties 

Party of Regions
Leader Mykola Azarov
Honorary Leader - Viktor Yanukovych
First Deputy Volodymyr Rybak
Parliamentary leader  Oleksandr Yefremov
Founded October 26, 1997
Partisan leaning Pro-Russian, center
http://www.partyofregions.org.ua/en/about

UDAR (Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform)
Leader Vitaliy Klychko
Founded April 24, 2010, Legally registered March 14, 2005
Partisan leaning Anti-corruption, pro-European, center-right
http://klichko.org/en/about/history

All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland"
Leader Yulia Tymoshenko (in prison), popular figure - Olexandr Turchynov
Founded 9 July 1999
Partisan leaning Liberal, Pro-European, moderate conservatism, center-right
European affiliation European People's Party
http://byut.com.ua/

The Communist party
Leader Petro Symonenko
Founded June 19, 1993
Partisan leaning Marxism-Leninism
International affiliation Union of Communist Parties
http://www.kpu.ua/

Svoboda party
Leader Oleh Tyahnybok
Founded Oct 13, 1991, as political party registered on Oct 16, 1995, preceded by Social-National Party
Partisan leaning Ukrainian nationalism, Far-right
http://www.svoboda.org.ua/

Ukraine Forward!
Leader Natalia Korolevska
Founded 1998 As Ukrainian Social Democratic Party
Partisan leaning Social democracy http://ukraina-vpered.com/en/

Video of disappearing ink in Odessa:

VIA Radio Svoboda:

News websistes in Crimea are reporting hacker attacks. According to the director of  the Simferopol-based Information Press Center, Valentina Samar, eight publications including regional media centers in Sevastopol, Evpatoria, Feodosia, Yalta and Dzhankoy experienced attacks. The websites were publishing reports on voting irregularities.

The Committee of Voters has issued a document on voting violations as of 15:30 local time. (In Ukrainian) 

Former footballer and member of the pro-business party called Ukraine Forward! Andriy Shevchenko, after casting his vote: "A huge chunk of work has been done. These last three months have been really good for us. I'm happy with my choice, I'm happy with my campaign. Thousands and thousands of people were coming to our meetings, I feel that support."

The polls will be open for just a couple more hours in Ukraine. A new document has been released of alleged violations (thus far) today -- we are working on a short synopsis in English. 

Here is some reading on today's elections and what they mean going forward:

# Ukrainians Go To The Polls In Key Parliamentary Elections

# Want To Understand Russia-Ukraine Relations? Follow The Money

# Ukrainian Students Selling Votes On Social Networks

We didn't post this one before, but this video of a flashmob at a voting station in Lviv has been making rounds on Twitter.  The participants held up a sign that says, "Slaves are not allowed in heaven."

"Рабів до раю не пускають" У Львові влаштували флеш-моб youtu.be/50oAkX0UOlQ #вибори#вибори2012#elect_ua

— Радіо Свобода (@radiosvoboda) October 28, 2012
 

As of 13:37 local time, CIS-EMO stated that no systematic voting violations occurred.

No systematic voting violations have occurred, say CIS-EMO observers at press conference interfax.com.ua/eng/main/12394… #ukrainevotes

— Modern Ukraine (@modern_ukraine) October 28, 2012

Ukrainian news website, Korrespondent reports (in RU) that a member of an election committee in Kyiv was reportedly taking drugs at the voting station. The police found an empty syringe package in the restroom.

Amid reports of widespread cyber attacks, even Viktor Yanukovich's Party of Regions claims it is being hit.

In a statement, the party says, “Starting 13:00, the opponents of the Party of Regions have been systematically attacking the official website of the party.” The press release warned the "information terrotists" that "their actions are violating the rights of the internet users and the constitutional rights of the Ukrainians." 

Some voters in Kherson, a city in the south of Ukraine are getting creative....by writing in adult film stars. 

People in Kherson are voting for Sasha Grey.

Херсонцы голосуют за Сашу Грей #вибори2012 twitter.com/AlexSimonchuk/…

— Alex Simonchuk (@AlexSimonchuk) October 28, 2012

Ukraine: An Election Day In The Life 

Intefax reports that seven polling station in Odessa have been briefly closed after pens with invisible ink were found. 

In Mariupol people came to vote with masks on their faces as part of an ecoprotest.

У Маріуполі люди приходять на дільниці у масках - екопротест #вибори#вибори2012#elect_ua twitter.com/nomoreanry/sta…

— andrii bashtovyi (@nomoreanry) October 28, 2012

The often-overlooked panda vote... video from Kyiv:

There are now several reports of DDoS attacks on monitoring and candidate sites. Please email electionsrs@gmail.com with info/tips (Ukrainian, Russian, or English)

TRANSLATION: To all those interested, the websites of the election watchdogs are experiencing DDos attacks. Maydan, OPORA, Electua.

Повідомляємо всіх зацікавлених, сайти організацій що здійснюють спостереження за виборами, переносять DDoS атаки. Майдан, ОПОРА, Electua.

— Civil Network OPORA (@opora) October 28, 2012

A Radio Svoboda correspondent reports that a safe in Donetsk was opened with an angle grinder and 31 ballots were burnt.

У #Donetsk сейф комісії вскривали болгаркою, 31 бюлетень підпалили #elect_ua @radiosvoboda

— Olena Povoliaieva (@rolenyatko) October 28, 2012

Anatoly Hrytsenko, the former Minister of Defence and leader of the party, Civic Position, wrote on his personal Facebook account (in Ukrainian) that his website has been hacked. 

"My personal website was bombarded with DDos-attacks. As well as, the personal website of Tymoshenko, Turchinov and Yatsenyk. The government probably decided to play computer games with the opposition websites in addition to the issue of falsifications. We are working to restore them, but it [the websites] are not being attacked by dummies, but professionals…

Mir24.tv reports (in RU): 

A voter from Odessa ate his ballots after leaving the voting booth. 

A 50-year-old man took his ballots and entered the voting booth. When he came out, instead of throwing them inside the ballot box, he started chewing on them.

RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, Radio Svoboda correspondent reports:

In Lugansk, a Party of Regions candidate is bribing voters with gifts from his store.

Several polling stations in voting district 109 are surrounded with blue tents carrying the sign, "Prodtorg." "Prodtorg. Soviet" is a store, which belongs to a Party of Regions candidate Volodymyr Madyanyk. Voters come to the tents with special marked coupons, which can later be exchanged with gifts at the "Prodtorg. Soviet" store. According to people whose coupons were already marked, they will receive their gifts after the elections are over.

Information agency, Unian.ua reports:
An UDAR representative claims that a senior was discharged from the hospital in Dnipropetrovsk after refusing to say who he will vote for in the elections.

Colleagues are saying that Tyahnybok (Svoboda party leader) didn’t vote, because he forgot his passport at home.

Колеги розповідають, Що Тягнибок не проголосував, бо забув удома паспорт!

— MolodPlus (@MolodPlus) October 28, 2012

Last night, our correspondent in Crimea had his mobile phone robo-called...with a song by the band Leningrad. The lyrics:

Korrespondent.net, reports that the Central Election Commission has announced that as of 12.00 local time, 22.4% have already voted.

Opora, an election watchdog reported at 12:15 local time:

Volodymyr Zayac, head of the district's election office says that a bus has brought voters to the voting station number 710556 in Taln, Cherkasy region. Zayac said that after voting a representative of one of the candidates paid these voters in a store nearby.

The cat can barely handle the suspense. A larger photo gallery is on the Radio Svoboda site [LINK]

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich: "It is very important for each voter who takes part in the election today to take a responsible decision. I've voted for stability, the economic development of Ukraine, and for our people to live better."

Here is where our Ukrainian Svc has correspondents today:

RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports: A district administrative court has banned the holding of rallies in the center of Kyiv until November 12.

The press service of the "Coalition of Participants of the Orange Revolution," a Ukrainian NGO says:

"The Court, considering the potential conflicts between organizations with opposite views, citing a presidential decree banning rallies in Kyiv downtown, decided to prohibit the holding of any events (except ones held by the state) until November 12."

Yulia Tymoshenko's daughter Evgenia votes in Dnipropetrovsk:

After voting, here's what she had to say: "Today I've voted for freedom of my mother, for freedom of political prisoners, for justice, and for our country returning to democracy so we will not wake up tomorrow in a concentration camp or in jail. These elections cannot be considered fair just because of one single fact that main opposition leaders were not even registered."​

Robust security presence in the streets of Kyiv

Чому не можна протестувати на майдані? - Аось чому! #вибори2012#elect_ua #вибори instagr.am/p/RUogs8R8Iw/

— andrii bashtovyi (@nomoreanry) October 28, 2012

Congratulations!

I just voted for the first time! :P #ukraine #вибори2012 instagr.am/p/RUoZd8gbpz/

— YaroslavKryzhanivsky (@Yarumil) October 28, 2012

It is possible to watch the voting live on webcams installed in the voting stations.

Find a precinct and watch as people vote here. However, the website requires you to login.

If you've been waiting for the Reuters "Ukrainians go to the polls" video, here it is. 

#Ukraine will elect 450 new parliament members today, but there's only 389 women running for a seat compared to 2720 male candidates

— Natalie Novick (@GenderPolitics) October 28, 2012

Last night, @radiosvoboda corr. in Crimea Volodymyr Prytula's mobile was robo-called by an anonymous # every couple minutes #elect_ua

— RFE/RL (@RFERL) October 28, 2012

Voters casting their ballots in Crimea (by Radio Svoboda):

$25 for a vote? How does that compare to other offers? Email electionsrs@gmail.com -- guaranteed anonymity.

@rferl yesterday i had proposition for my vote 200uah.

— Alexei Gerasimchik (@jstimusic) October 28, 2012

Opposition parliamentary candidates Vasyl Hatsko from Kyiv and Tetyana Chornovol from Lviv told Reuters on Friday that they thought today's vote could be manipulated. The head of Ukrainian Committee of Voters, Oleksandr Chernenko, disagrees.

Hatsko:

"We are ready for everything because we know who we deal with in this country - with [President Viktor] Yanukovich and the Party of Regions. That's why we understand that what happened in 2004 and earlier can happen again, when the authorities beat up activists, prevent them from campaigning and do it in order to get a constitutional majority in the parliament."

Chornovol:

"I was splashed with the paint as I was leaving the elevator....I could have said 'so what? Somebody sprayed me with paint'. But I understand that it was done in order to show me how vulnerable I am. When the doors of the elevator opened, and I saw the eyes of this guy, I immediately realised something would happen, that it would be either a knife or a gun. And that was the moment of fear when you clearly understand that you will be attacked. And when I was covered with paint, I was relieved when I understood it was just paint. I think it has been done specially to make me live through this moment and realise how unprotected I am."

Chernenko:

"I think with the party lists, everything will be more or less calm, because the authorities want the results of the vote on party lists to correspond with the results of exit polls in Ukraine so that later they can say, 'look, everything is matching up, so the elections were democratic'. As for the single-constituency vote we could have different unpleasant scenarios. I don't think it will be on a mass scale, but this will take place."

Read Tom Balmforth's preview of today's vote. Main questions:

Canadian election observers from ON & NS inspecting ballot boxes at a Kyiv polling station this morning #Ukrainevotes twitter.com/CANADEM_Missio…

— Mission Canada (@CANADEM_Mission) October 28, 2012

A little bit of (anecdotal) pessimism from folks on the ground:

@christopherjm 9 Ukrainians I interviewed last night gave the same answer: having options doesn't mean you have a free choice #ukrainevotes

— Alexander Felix Nunn (@alxflxnun) October 28, 2012

RFE/RL correspondent Andrii Bashtovyi has a nice Instagram shot of the ballot:

Хто не бачив, списки виглядають так #вибори2012 #вибори #elect_ua instagr.am/p/RUMjy2R8Kn/

— andrii bashtovyi (@nomoreanry) October 28, 2012

Voting has kicked off in Ukraine. You can follow us (@RFERL) or the #вибори2012 and #elect_ua hashtags on Twitter. There are also live video feeds from nearly all of the polling stations.