Vote count protocols from troubled constituency No. 132 returned to district election commission

The originals of vote count protocols from polling stations in constituency No. 132 have been brought back to Pervomaisk, Mykolaiv region, head of the Batkivschyna United Opposition candidate Arkadiy Kornatsky's election staff Ihor Pylypchuk has said.

According to the Central Election Commission, with all votes counted in the constituency, opposition candidate Kornatsky garnered 39.66% of the vote, while his opponent, Party of Regions member Vitaliy Travianko, took 34.09%.

However, the CEC later released new figures showing that Travianko had beaten Kornatsky in the elections. Kornatsky has the same percentage of votes, while Travianko collected 39.97% of the vote.

The Administrative Court of Mykolaiv region ordered forcible withdrawal of the original vote count protocols from the election commission of constituency No. 132.

According to the opposition, on Friday evening the enforcement service with the help of officers of Berkut special service took all original vote count protocols from the district election commission and loaded them into a bus. However, people who were keeping vigil outside the district commission's building blocked the path of the bus. Subsequently, the leader of the Batkivschyna United Opposition's branch in Mykolaiv region, Vadym Merikov, and MP Hennadiy Moskal took the protocols back to the district election commission's office.

However, on Friday night Berkut special forces broke through the ranks of protesters, who surrounded the district commission's building. Representatives of the enforcement service escorted by riot police officers took out begs with the documents.

According to the Interior Ministry, during the scuffle twelve law enforcement officers were injured and got gas poisoning. A criminal case was opened into the blocking of the bus' way.

The original protocols were taken to Mykolaiv District Administrative Court at around 2100 on Friday.

The court refused to verify the data of the protocols and ruled that the vote recount should be done by the district election commission.

Representatives of opposition candidate Kornatsky asked the court to read out the data from the protocol, but the court refused.

Kornatsky said that the opposition will demand the verification of the original protocols with the copies they have made and will demand vote recount in case of inconsistencies.

Meanwhile, around a hundred supporters of the opposition from across the country gathered outside the district commission's building.