Election Day Ukraine (How did the auction for votes go on VK?)
October 28, 2012Well today is election day in Ukraine (and also my mother-in law’s birthday) – thus a short post as I am expected elsewhere.
However I will leave you to ponder just how much these people advertising their votes for sale on VK (a social forum similar to facebook) will have actually been paid for their votes.
$20, $30, $50 for your vote? Who got a figure they were happy with and who was bought off cheaply?
Entrepreneurial spirit and all that eh? (Depressed sigh!)
Meanwhile, I wish an incident free day (and night) to all the long term observers with whom I have spoken to over the past few months – often at great length – and await the flurry of final reports with interest. My email in-box eagerly awaits the final reports from all those I spoke with and promised to send me copies.
Saying that, if historical precedent is followed, the only report that will count as far as EU recognition of these elections is concerned, free and fair or not, is that produced by ODIHR/OSCE.
Nevertheless, I look forward to reading the reports of those observers from all the observer missions I have met who have worked very hard over the past few months, covered a huge area on less than optimal roads, attended countless political rallies, spoken with numerous candidates in all manner of circumstances day and night, monitored the often mind-numbing media and listed electoral violations great or small where ever they saw them.
After so many months here, I am certain they will all be happy to get home again some time next week. No doubt I will see some of them again in 2015, and quite possibly I will see some of them again far earlier than that.
Odessablog's Blog 
[…] With respect to the Ukrainian elections, Global Voices pointed out a blog post by a British writer, who is a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, on a site called Odessablogger. He pointed out that people were auctioning off their votes to the highest bidder on the social network vKontakte. […]
[…] Одесаблог привлече внимание кон страница на рускиот социјален медиум ВКонтакте […]
Here you go —
Ukraine’s elections failed to meet democratic standards:- OSCE
http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/osce-ukraines-election-fails-to-meet-democratic-standards-315194.html
Consider the source – such as CIS monitoring – when grading the situation in Zookraine:
http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/op-ed/consider-source-when-reading-ukraines-election-democratic-315185.html
“Consider the source” in Ukraine? I’m not sure I follow you.
The long term election observers I know and was asked to speak to over the past few months were OSCE and several EU financed multinational NGOs. I wasn’t asked to address any CIS LTO missions.
As I have written a few times, no matter how many reports will be written by however many election monitoring groups that were here – the definitive article that anyone who is anyone takes note of is that of UDIHR/OSCE.
However, UDIHR/OSCE simply monitor, and report, followed by recommendations. It is for national governments and external entities to decided from that report how they will officially recognise the elections.
It will be statements from the EU Commission, EEAS, EP and ECC that will decide the Ukrainian fate going forwards. Thus it depends on what and how they want to interpret the OSCE/ODHIR report that matters.
Keep you eye out for either exceptionally strong or rather mild statements over the next days, and weeks from those EU organs.
The “consider the source” refers to the Kyiv Post article, not to you. It was part of the headline in the article
It pretty much says the same thing as you have been saying.
OSCE has come out with its report, and so has OPORA.
On the other hand, Ganna Goebbels German continues to do what she does – ignore reality and propagandize that “everyone in the world” says that the PoR ran these elections like angels.
Look at the article in Ukrainian Pravda – then look at the comments below.
People do not believe Ganna Goebbels German.
Neither do I.
More cool tricks in Zookraine.
1/2 of the Parliament is now elected by “party lists.”
The other 1/2 on the basis of individual candidates winning a majority.
They haven’t quite counted all the votes yet – and guess what???
There are reports, for example, on the Savik Shuster Show, that the lights have mysteriously gone out in certain polling districts, so that people from the Freedom Party (Svoboda) are sitting on the ballot boxes to make sure that nothing happens to the ballots.
They’ve also been discussing the mysterious epidemics that occur during elections – so as to allow “home voting” or voting in hospitals.
Surprise, surprise!
According to the exit polls, the opposition parties on a combined basis got far more than the PoR-commies.
PoR – about 28%
commies – about 12%
BYUT – about 24.7%
Kltchko’s UDAR – about 15%
Svoboda – about 12%
Svoboda was given no chance to break the 5% barrier during the runup to elections.
Previously, the incumbent majority loudly announced that exit polls would not vary from actual balot results.
But – “it’s not important who votes, it’s important who counts the votes”
We shall see
Right now it looks like the opposition parties will be the majority on a combined basis.
However, it remains to be seen whether there will be those who are “runners-over” – that is, those who “run over” to the Party of Regions despite being elected on another ticket, the so-called перебіжчики – those who run over.
Here’s another cool trick – “voting at home.”
An affidavit is submitted by a “voter” to allow that voter to “vote at home.”
When the real voter shows up to vote, the real voter is told that he —– already voted!!!!!
Or – there is no way to verify what happens when the “voters” sort of “vote at home” or in the hospital or elsewhere.
Zookraine is a hugely sick, sick, sick, sick territory.
The sovok mafiosi, who learned how to knife fight on the edge of a razor – they have a million of these tricks.
The sale of votes can be as trivial as selling buns at hugely discounted prices.
Sick, sick, sick, sick, sick.
Flipping through live coverage on TV and newspapers in Zookraine.
The analysis is quite different from other countries where normal democracies are in place.
In Zookraine, the analysis has been focused not only on election day “falsifications” – carousels, disappearing ink, mysterious problems with safes (сейфиf) and the sale of votes.
It also focuses on all the shenanigans —- occurring for months —- leading up to the elections.
On Channel 5, the analysts concurred that the Regionnaries will proclaim the elections the “best ever” with “no problems”, and that the militia (міліція) will “see nothing and do nothing.”
They also all concurred that quite the opposite is true – that there have been and real problems with these elections.
Ukrainian Pravda is posting videos of assorted purchase of votes (not only on social networks, but also outside of them).
TSN is reporting that hackers have hacked the web sites of the political parties.
Channel 5 had an interview with one of the international observers.
Regionnaires like to accuse the observers of being affiliated with the opposition – which is not true.
[…] Odessablog εφιστά την προσοχή [en] σε μια σελίδα στο VKontakte [ru], η οποία χρησιμοποιείται […]
[…] draws attention [en] to a VKontakte page [ru] used by those who are willing to sell their Oct. 28 election votes. […]