In Kherson, journalist wanted to take out voting paper from polling station

In Kherson, a voter who registered himself as a journalist for the media "Legal control of Ukraine" hid one voting paper in his pocket, and when it was noticed by the members of the commission and observers, he quickly threw him in the box, civil network Opora reported. The incident occurred in the district electoral commission # 650783 at 7:15. After the voting started, he took two voting papers and went to the polling booth, because as voter himself he was supposed to vote on this polling station. "He did not throw the voting paper containing candidates for people's deputies in single-mandate constituencies into a ballot box, but put it in his left pocket and went to the exit. He was stopped by members of the district electoral commission, they made remarks. He told he  was not going to vote for the majoritarian candidates, and did not know that it is not possible to take the ballot paper with him. Accompanied by a representative of the election commission, the person threw the ballot in a ballot box," as an observer said. Representatives of the law enforcement agencies present at the polling station responded to the situation and draw up the protocol. Preliminary legal qualification of the offense - Part 1 of Art. 158-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Illegal use of the ballot paper”. According to Maksym Yeligulashvili, coordinator of the long-term observation of the civic network support in the Kherson region, the practice when headquarters and candidates employ the journalist's status for their representatives is widespread. "Yes, indeed, the man who tried to take the voting paper out was previously registered as a journalist at this polling station. Unfortunately, the practice where headquarters and candidates use the status of journalist for their representatives is widespread. We are constantly fixing such cases. People can not name the editor's name or the address of the editorial board, and, moreover, they do not understand what an editorial task is. In this case, a press card for the person was short-term. The term of his action will come on July 31 ", Maksym Yeligulashvili told commenting the incident to the IMI representative in the Kherson region. The publication "Legal Control of Ukraine" claimed that the man who tried to get out the ballot paper was a freelance correspondent for the newspaper. "We want to note that the editorial office is not responsible for the personal unlawful actions of persons who became special correspondents of our editorial board on a voluntary basis. The editorial board authorized its representatives to act within the exclusively editorial task, "the newspaper said.