The turnout at the local election in Ukraine was a mere 28.8% on average by 1500 on Sunday, Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Volodymyr Shapoval has said.
The information is not official, he stressed, as it was obtained over the phone from territorial election commissions, which in turn obtained it in the same mode from the district election commissions.
According to Shapoval, turnout at the local election was much lower than during the last presidential election.
In particular, turnout during the first round of the presidential election as of 1500 was 49.85%, and in during the second round 47.6%. However, he said, this was normal for European countries, where turnout at the local election is much lower than during a national election.
The lowest turnout was registered in Chernivtsi region (21.2%) and the highest in Cherkasy region (35%).
Shapoval also said that the CEC had not obtained official information about any voting irregularities. He also stressed that it's not CEC's job to study mass media reports on violations.
Answering a question from journalists, Shapoval expressed hope that the first results of the local election would be available as early as Monday.
He also noted that the official results of the election should be announced by the territorial election commissions no later than at 2400 on Friday, November 5.
