In Odesa region, members of election commission had journalist removed the session of the commission

On October 29, in the village of Kuyalnyk (Odeska oblast), members of district election commission No.510546 of Kuyalnytska unified territorial community univocally took a decision to remove from the polling station a mass media representative. This decision was approved at the session of the commission about 19.00, as the website of Opora reports. According to this information, the commission did not execute a relevant written decree on their decision. According to clause 6, part 9 of article 27 of the Law of Ukraine “On local election”, mass media representatives have a right to be present at the session of the election committee (not more than two people from each media outlet). From the formal standpoint, since the commission at the time of voting (8.00 to 20.00) is in charge of voting at the polling station only, and the law of Ukraine "On local elections" does not permit to end the voting prematurely, so technically the commission did not have power to make this decision. In the comment for IMI, the coordinator of public monitoring over the elections in Odeska oblast Anatoliy Boyko confirmed the fact that a mass media representative was removed from the polling station, but could not provide any details.