Police investigators initiated criminal proceedings after Brovary police department (Kyiv region) received a notification from a voter that a deliberate violation of the secrecy of voting was committed by applying a unique registration number to the ballot paper and on its stub.

Brovary police said on its Facebook page that the presence of such a number in the future may make it possible to establish the content of the will of citizens who took part in the elections.

The criminal proceedings was initiated under Part 2 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the secrecy of voting by an authorized person), the sanction of which provides for custodial restraint for up to three years or imprisonment for the same period with the deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for the period from one to three years. The pretrial investigation is underway.

As reported, deputy head of the Holos parliamentary faction Yaroslav Zhelezniak announced a violation of the secrecy of voting in the local elections in Brovary, Kyiv region. "The secrecy of voting has been violated. There is a number on the ballot. The same number is in the stub [...] Not the precinct number, but the ballot number," he wrote on Facebook on election day, noting that in this way it is possible to use any ballot understand who voted and how.

"Now our team is finding out the details, but there is a big risk that, in general, because of this, the elections of the mayor and the council of the merged territorial community will be canceled," the MP said.

He also said that, according to the Electoral Code, voting in elections in Ukraine is secret, and control over the content of the will of voters, the establishment or disclosure of the content of the will of a particular voter is prohibited in any way.

Zhelezniak posted scans of control stubs and ballots for the elections of Brovary Mayor under his post on Facebook, which confirm his words.