In Dnipropetrovsk, journalists had to force through using police help to attend Vilkul’s nomination

On September 22 in Dnipropetrovsk, representatives of "Opposition bloc" several times denied journalists access to a party meeting, where candidates were nominated. The online media outlet Depo.Dnipro informs about this.

The session of the party’s city branch, where candidates were nominated for all 64 districts in the oblast center as well as the party’s candidate for the mayor's office, took place in the prestigious "Park Hotel". But the journalists of several media outlets were not admitted: depo.ua, Hromadske Dnipro, and dp1.info, so they could not see how the nomination was conducted and who exactly was nominated.

At first, as the media outlet informs, people who registered the participants said only those journalists who were invited can attend. But in some minutes they decided they would not admit journalists and just give comments after the event, for fear of "provocations".

To obtain accreditation was in fact impossible, as the organizer, Tetiana Starovoytova, did not answer calls or messages. In the end it was announced that Oleksander Vilkul was the one nominated for mayor elections and No. 1 in elections to the city council, univocally. The only journalists present at the event were from the media outlet "Sobytiye".

IMI media lawyer Roman Holovenko remarks that the law on local election provides for restriction of journalists' access to the relevant meetings using so-called "accreditation", but not a total ban of journalists' access to the event.