CANADEM: 50% of IDP in Ukraine did not know they could vote in elections

At least 50% of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine did not know that they had the right to vote in the presidential elections.

This was stated by the head of the CANADEM observation mission, Lloyd Axworthy.

The mission believes that efforts aimed at disseminating information about procedures and providing voter information to internally displaced persons are insufficient.

According to the mission, IDPs demonstrate a low level of awareness of their voting rights, in particular older IDPs who may not have access to the Internet and social media.

“Both observers from the Canadian mission and persons working with IDPs estimated that at least 50% of IDPs did not know that they had the right to vote in elections, or what the procedure was for temporarily changing the voting address,” the message says.

Note that internally displaced persons have the right to vote in the presidential elections of 2019, but they must register with the state registry of the electoral register and must repeat this process in the event of a second round of elections.

Thus, as of March 25 (the last date for a temporary change in the voting address), only about 6.5% of the IDPs used this opportunity.

As The Journalist reported, the Central Election Commission processed more than 75% of the protocols.