Presidential election underway in Ukraine
Ukrainian citizens will be able to vote from 8:00 to 20:00 in the territory of Ukraine and at the overseas polling stations according to local time.
To hold the elections, 199 territorial electoral districts and one overseas electoral district were formed, as well as 29,888 precinct election commissions, including 79 special voting stations for military personnel to vote in the territory of military units (formations) in Donbas and one in Lviv region. 101 voting stations operate abroad.
At the same time, according to the decision of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, the presidential elections will not be organized and held in the territory of the annexed Crimea, in 12 out of 21 electoral districts of Donetsk region and in 6 out of 11 electoral districts in Luhansk region.
The estimated number of voters is over 29.7 million citizens.
More than 315,725 Ukrainians took advantage of a temporary change in the place of voting.
The CEC registered 44 presidential candidates, but later five of them refused to run for the president. Thus, a ballot paper contains the names of 39 presidential candidates. The ballots are sand-colored, sized 20 x 80 cm, and have 10 degrees of protection against forgery.
139 Ukrainian NGOs were entitled to have official observers during the presidential elections. In addition, the CEC registered 2,344 observers from 19 international organizations and 17 foreign countries.
The estimate of the presidential elections in Ukraine, approved by the Central Election Commission, is UAH 2.3 billion.
It is planned that 135,400 officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine will ensure the safety of voters during the elections.
The CEC is expected to determine the election results and draw up a corresponding protocol till April 10 inclusive.
To win the election, a candidate must receive 50 percent plus one or more of the total votes cast. If none of the candidates gets such a number of votes, a second round of voting will be held, tentatively on April 21.
Incumbent President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko was elected at the special election on May 25, 2014. Pursuant to the legislation, the next regular presidential elections are held on the last Sunday of the fifth year of office.
