Due to possible electoral violations in constituency No. 87 in Ivano-Frankivsk region, during the by-election to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the police initiated 17 criminal proceedings.

"Interim elections of MP of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: Ivano-Frankivsk police initiated 17 criminal proceedings. Some 12 of them are related to violations of electoral legislation, another five concern the electoral process. In total, law enforcement officers received 113 reports of probable violations," the National Police said in a statement posted on the website.

According to the National Police, in order to ensure law and order during the midterm elections of the MP, Ivano-Frankivsk policemen strenuously maintained order and promptly responded to all reports of possible violations of electoral legislation.

According to the statement, some 113 messages were received on line 102 in total. After a thorough check of the information received from citizens, the police drew up 12 administrative protocols, which mainly related to violations of the formation or placement of election campaign materials.

"In addition, investigators and inquiry units have launched 17 criminal proceedings. Some 12 of them are directly related to violations of the electoral legislation, five ones are indirectly related to violations of the electoral process," the National Police said.

In particular, one criminal proceeding was initiated on the fact of obstruction of the exercise of the right to vote, the work of the election commission (Part 3 of Article 157 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine); five ones on the facts of bribery of voters (Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), one more on the fact of using forged documents (Part 3 of Article 358 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), four – on the facts of knowingly false reports about a threat to the safety of citizens, destruction or damage to property objects (Part 1 of Article 259 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

In addition, in the period from April 2 to April 3, the police initiated six criminal proceedings on the facts of the theft of ballots from six precinct election commissions.

"During the pretrial investigation in these criminal proceedings, the scene of the incident was examined in the premises of the constituency election commission, witnesses were questioned, including a representative of a candidate for MPs, three members of constituency election commission No.87, some 64 members of the precinct election commission, including chairmen, deputies and secretaries , eight police officers, three official observers, two journalists and the director of the cultural center where the constituency election commission is located. A number of operational measures and investigative actions are also planned," the police said in the statement.