CVU reports on the first facts of illegal campaigning at the presidential elections in Ukraine.
Billboards with campaigning in favor of S. Kaplina and A. Sadovy, which have no initial data (information about the institution that made the printing, circulation, information about the persons responsible for the issue, customers of the relevant materials) were placed in the city of Kyiv and different regions of Ukraine. This is a violation of Part 3. Art. 59 of the Law "On Elections of the President of Ukraine". These billboards were posted a few months before the start of the election process, but after the official registration of S. Kaplina and A. Sadovy as the candidates billboards are considered election campaign, and therefore they should be placed with the restrictions established by the Law "On Elections of the President of Ukraine". In particular, they should contain outputs and be paid from candidates' election funds.
The same applies to advertising materials in favor of V. Nalyvaychenko, which are placed in a number of Ukrainian web-based media. Probably, these materials were not paid from the candidate's election fund, since they were placed before official registration.
"A part of the candidates posted promotional materials a few months before the election campaign and then they were not considered election campaigning. However, after the official registration of S. Kaplina, A. Sadovy and V. Nalyvaichenko, all materials that campaign to vote "for" or "against" these individuals should be placed in accordance with the electoral law ", - stated Director General of CVU Oleksii Koshel.
Active campaigns are also conducted by other potential candidates. Although formally they do not violate the norms of the current legislation before the official registration day, such actions demonstrate deliberate manipulation and public disregard for the basic principles of democratic elections.
CVU encourages both officially registered and potential candidates not to violate existing legislation and principles of democratic elections and to eliminate illegal campaigning. In this case, if the candidates declare themselves unrelated to the campaign materials they have already posted, they should apply to the court.