"Ghost-voters, or plain button-pressers?" VIDEO

"Ghost-voters, or plain button-pressers?" VIDEO

Numerous statements requesting that voting results not be counted were written by people's deputies of the eighth convocation of Parliament. They retracted their votes because they themselves were not present at the time of the vote.

Such statements did not provoke heated debates in the Verkhovna Rada, and there were no investigations of similar cases by law enforcement. What is happening? Failures of the electronic voting system in the plenary hall? If so, this fact should call into question the legitimacy of all adopted laws.

Is there a direct violation of the Constitution (button-pressing)? Or is someone forging the card? In any case, this should be the start of an investigation in Parliament involving law enforcement agencies.

But nothing is being investigated

I managed to meet and speak with the head of the Computerized Systems Department of the Office of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Oleksiy Sydorenko. He emphasized that no technical failures can occur during deputies' voting: "Before each voting day, the technical condition of the 'Rada-3' system is routinely checked at every deputy's workstation."

He ruled out any possibility of a voting system malfunction and assured that "if the card is not in the voting console, the vote cannot appear on the board in any way." "Moreover, if any doubts arise, deputies have the full right to register a draft resolution on the violation, which should be considered by the Rules Committee," Sydorenko reported.

At the same time, the secretariat of the Rules Committee and the Office of the Verkhovna Rada recommend that people's deputies complain to the counting commission. As written in the Law "On Rules of Procedure": "the powers of the counting commission include... consideration of deputies' appeals related to violations of voting procedures or other impediments to voting."

"The Office has no information regarding the counting commission conducting checks or investigations of the deputies you mentioned concerning changes in their voting results"—

reported First Deputy Head of the Main Department of the Office of the Verkhovna Rada A. Pyvovar.

I sent a request to the Office of the Verkhovna Rada asking whether investigations were conducted based on the statements of deputies who were absent during votes. Namely — Valeriy Babenko, Ruslan Lukyanchuk, Vadym Kryvohatko, Viktor Ostapchuk, Vyacheslav Bohuslayev, Oleksandr Dubinin, Yuriy Savchuk, Yuriy Tymoshenko, Vadym Denysenko.

Most of the deputies I interviewed who wrote such statements are not at all interested in their further outcome, nor in investigating the reasons why their vote was recorded when they were absent. The deputies who should be most interested in establishing the truth, since their rights were violated, are not bothered by these issues at all. Isn't that strange?

How do the deputies themselves explain the counting of their votes in their absence?

Former deputy from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction Oleksandr Dubinin, who left it after Ihor Kolomoyskyi's resignation, stated that he did not vote for amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine or for the state budget of Ukraine, and wrote a corresponding statement. "I wasn't in Kyiv at all, I wrote a statement, attached video evidence — I was absent."

The deputy said he does not recall exactly whether he had his card on the day of voting. According to him, he gives it to the girls in the parliamentary secretariat. He said he "does not intend to look into" the matter. He also suggested several possible scenarios, such as a failure of the voting system, forging his card, or someone taking his card. "I don't know," the deputy replied.

Analysis of the votes shows that Dubinin was probably voted for by 'UkrOP' member Valentyn Didych, who sits in the same row as him. This is evidenced, for example, by the fact that on the day Dubinin was absent, whenever Dubinin's card voted "for," Didych's card also voted "for" on all those votes.

Yuriy Savchuk from the People's Front voted "For" the state budget of Ukraine in December of the previous year. But on the Verkhovna Rada website this vote is marked with an asterisk indicating that Deputy Savchuk wrote a statement that he personally did not vote for this.

"I had a hypertensive crisis. I couldn't be (in Parliament)," he insists. When asked whether his card was in the Verkhovna Rada — he denied it. According to him, he wrote his statement to the speaker and learned about the vote that did not occur from the Internet. Mr. Savchuk did not look into the reasons: "I had no opportunity to investigate because I was on sick leave."

Deputy Ruslan Lukyanchuk from the People's Front earlier wrote a statement that he did not vote for the law on restructuring obligations on foreign currency loans. "I don't remember, honestly," is his answer regarding writing his statement 7 months ago (the vote took place 2 July 2015 year).

When asked how this could have happened at all, he replied: "I'm not an operational intelligence officer to investigate among my colleagues," implying that one of them could have used his card to vote. "It's somewhat inappropriate, not correct," he added later.

A strange transformation occurred in the position of deputy Viktor Ostapchuk, a member of the Revival party. After voting "For" the law on amending certain laws of Ukraine regarding protection of the information television and radio space of Ukraine (on banning Russian films (05.02.2015)) he wrote a statement that he did not personally vote because he was absent. Information about the writing of such a statement can still be read on the official website of the Verkhovna Rada.

But this deputy's position changed radically. Now he claims that he voted "For."

- You once voted for the ban on Russian films, remember? (journalist)

- I don't remember (deputy).

- Then you said you didn't vote — you wrote a statement.

- I didn't write. My memory is fine.

- Did you vote for the ban on Russian films?

- I didn't write a statement 100 percent. There were many signal votes and I supported them.

Vadym Denysenko from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc and Valeriy Babenko from the People's Front refused to speak in detail on this topic.

"Usually deputies' cards are kept in the secretariats of parliamentary factions. And as a rule, the factions designate those responsible for keeping such cards from among the people's deputies," reported Oleksiy Sydorenko, the same head of the Computerized Systems Department of the Office of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. He informed that each people's deputy has only one voting card, but the Rules of Procedure do not specify where he must keep it.

It seems the main reason deputies do not pursue the matter, do not register a resolution or do not appeal to the counting commission of Parliament, and ultimately why law enforcement agencies are not involved, is their lack of interest. That means they turn a blind eye to the fact that other deputies are voting with their cards. Moreover, they know or suspect which deputies might have used their card.

And deputies' writing statements that they did not vote because they were not in the hall seems more designed to explain themselves to voters and to absolve themselves of responsibility for the vote.

Serhiy ANDRUSHKO, Chesno movement