WORLD
Voting starts in Ukraine`s presidential elections
Kiev, March 31, AZERTAC
On Sunday, March 31, the regular elections of the President of Ukraine began.
Ukrainian citizens will be able to vote from 8:00 to 20:00 in the territory of Ukraine and at the overseas polling stations according to local time.
To hold the elections, 199 territorial electoral districts and one overseas electoral district were formed, as well as 29,888 precinct election commissions, including 79 special voting stations for military personnel to vote in the territory of military units (formations) in Donbas and one in Lviv region. 101 voting stations operate abroad, according to Ukrinform.
The estimated number of voters is over 29.7 million citizens.
The CEC registered 44 presidential candidates, but later five of them refused to run for the president. Thus, a ballot paper contains the names of 39 presidential candidates. The ballots are sand-colored, sized 20 x 80 cm, and have 10 degrees of protection against forgery.
139 Ukrainian NGOs were entitled to have official observers during the presidential elections. In addition, the CEC registered 2,344 observers from 19 international organizations and 17 foreign countries.
It is planned that 135,400 officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine will ensure the safety of voters during the elections.
The CEC is expected to determine the election results and draw up a corresponding protocol till April 10 inclusive.
Emil Huseynli
Special Correspondent