Washington

Following a badly marred one-off parliamentary election July 26 in Chernihiv, Ukraine, marked by serious electoral irregularities before and after the vote, Freedom House released the following statement:

“The serious abuses that occurred before and during the parliamentary election in Chernihiv show that that the corrupt politics and crony capitalism that sparked the popular revolution of 2014 remain alive and well in Ukraine,” said Mark P. Lagon, president of Freedom House. “Threats of violence, attempts to buy votes, interference by pseudo-journalists, and intimidation by thugs all marred the campaign and voting in Chernihiv. Unfortunately, Ukrainian authorities failed to confront these violations. With important local-level elections planned for October, Freedom House urges the Ukrainian authorities to aggressively respond to irregularities to prevent a repeat of events seen in Chernihiv.”

Ukraine is rated Partly Free in Freedom in the World 2015, Partly Free in Freedom of the Press 2015, Partly Free in Freedom on the Net 2014, and receives a democracy score of 4.75 on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 as the worst possible score, in Nations in Transit 2015.