KYIV. Oct 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU) is concerned about the increase in the use of violence during the electoral process in local elections, said CVU head Oleksiy Koshel has said.

"The actions that raise concern are facts of criminalization or facts of violence that appear during the election campaign. I don't want to stir up panic, I don't want to say that the elections are heading into the process similar to the early 90s, because during the previous election campaigns , in particular, in 2015 [in local elections] we also observed a number of facts of violence in the elections," Koshel said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Thursday.

According to him, CVU observers recorded more than 20 facts of violence over the past two weeks of the election campaign.

He also noted that during the current election campaign, there is also an incomparably large-scale process of damage to campaign materials.

According to him, if during the local elections in 2015 and during the parliamentary and presidential elections in 2019, such cases were rather an exception to the rule, and it was impossible to talk about a trend, then "the peculiarities of the 2020 elections are massive damage to campaign materials: pasting over, throwing paint, striking through, cutting into pieces."

The head of the CVU believes that the reason for this trend may be an increase in the price of the mandate, since the communities received powers and funds.

"The politicians got the opportunity to implement their programs, their projects and platforms in communities. Therefore, the struggle in local elections is much stronger," Koshel said.