CEDEM asked four sociologic groups to reveal who commissioned its polls

The "Center for Democracy and Rule of Law" (CEDEM) NGO appealed to four sociological groups asking them to reveal who was the customer of their July polls of public opinion on support of political parties. Taras Shevchenko, Director of the CEDEM, told it in his blog in "Ukrayinska Pravda" . Such requests were sent to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the Center for Social Monitoring, the Razumkov Center for Economic and Political Studies and the Sociological Group "Rating" on July 17. "The customers of electoral sociological polls must be open. ... We require to disclose their names. This request is based on the law of Ukraine "On access to public information". The access law obliges even private companies to publicly disclose and to provide information which is of public importance, while such a request was made. And this is precisely the case. Citizens, especially before the elections, have the right to know who ordered sociological surveys, " Shevchenko wrote. In case of a refusal to reveal its commissioners, the CEDEM is willing to bring the issue to the court and to protect the right to information, as he added. IMI reported, in January, the Ukrainian sociological association appealed the mass media to strictly comply with the requirements for publication of sociological surveys and to check out the competence of the source of information.