Fact-check: what is wrong in the reports of the Russian media about the Ukrainian elections

The presidential race in Ukraine can rightly be called one of the key topics for the Russian media. The question of whether showman Vladimir Zelensky, who does not possess any political experience, can bypass the current president, Petro Poroshenko, is full of headlines in newspapers and television channels.

Screenshot from YOUTUBE.COM/RUSSIA24TV

At the same time throughout the campaign, pro-Kremlin newspapers and state-run television stations regularly exposed Poroshenko in a negative light, presenting him as a veteran politician who failed to achieve any significant results over the five years of his presidency, writes with the BBC.

When covering his candidacy, the pro-government Russian media also repeatedly resorted to manipulation and distortion. Unlike Poroshenko, reports about his rival and leader of the first round of voting, Zelensky, were more neutral in tone.

On the eve of the second round of the presidential election, inaccurate information in the reports of the Russian media is still quite regular, especially when it comes to the current president and his team.

Here are just a few examples.

Statement: In Poroshenko headquarters do not know the rules of the debate.

“Poroshenko insists that they [the debates] should not take place at the stadium, but in the public television studio, as the law dictates. The fact that the location of the meeting is not officially fixed anywhere is apparently not known at the presidential headquarters” (Vesti program, Russia, April 1, 15).

Fact Check: The venue of the debate is fixed in Resolution No. 472 The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Ukraine dated 5 May 2014. According to the document, television debates between candidates take place in the studios of the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine.

It is unclear what the Vesti correspondent means by an “official” source of information about the debates, but in this case it is incorrect to say that the current president’s team is not aware of the rules for their conduct.

On the subject: Final ratings: Zelensky ahead of Poroshenko almost three times

Statement: Falsifications helped Poroshenko to go to the second round.

“Last week we already talked about how Poroshenko slipped into the second round, stealing this opportunity from Yulia Tymoshenko. Today we will add some more details, based on open data from the Central Election Commission of Ukraine and the analysis of official observers from the Ukrainian public organization “European Coordination Council”. And if we analyze the turnout figures, we will see a column with the average turnout for various regions.

For example, Vinnytsia region. The average turnout in the region is 65%. And in polling station 051589 there was XNUMX% turnout. Everyone, as one, went straight to vote. Everyone was XNUMX% healthy, in place and wanted to cast their vote.

And then there are a lot of such areas. Let's look: in the Kyiv region the average turnout is 66%, but in polling station 321321 it is 100%. The same picture is at polling station number 350847 in the Kirovograd region, with an average turnout for the region of 62%, 100% of them fulfilled their duty.” (Dmitry Kiselev, Vesti Nedeli, Russia April 1, 14).

“Where there was a very high turnout, and support for the incumbent president was the highest. Thus, the current president could acquire approximately 250 thousand votes, according to conservative estimates" (representative of the European Coordination Council, Vesti Nedeli, Russia April 1, 14)

On the subject: 'Tired of lying': Zelensky's wife told the whole truth about her husband

Fact Check: In these statements, several inaccuracies.

Firstly, two of the three polling stations mentioned by Dmitry Kiselev are special - they are located on the territory of prisons. We are talking about plot 051589 in Vinnitsaand 321321 in Kiev region. Given the special status of the sites, it is not surprising that the turnout in them was extremely high.

Plot 350847 in the Kirovgrad region is not of a special nature, however, according to official data of the CEC, the turnout was not 100%. Of 2 229 voters listed 1455 voted in the first round.

As for the words of the representative of the “European Coordination Council” about the supposedly “highest” support for Poroshenko where there was a high turnout, they contradict the data of the Central Election Commission.

So, in none of the three above-mentioned areas Poroshenko won a majority of votes. According to official data, on sites 051589 и 321321 the majority voted for Tymoshenko, and on the site 350847 Zelensky was the leader with a large margin.

To top it all off, “News of the Week” in its story mixed up the names of the speakers from the organization, showing instead of the declared Andrey Sichka to his colleague Vladislav Sysak.

Collage: ForumDaily

Statement: For Poroshenko vote rural pensioners with no education.

“According to opinion polls, mostly rural pensioners without higher education vote for Poroshenko (only 22% of his voters have a diploma) - gullible and suggestible people. Based on the same studies, mostly educated citizens and students voted for Zelensky” (article “Poroshenko donated blood in the USA”, Russian newspaper, April 11).

Fact Check: Although the author of the article does not specify what kind of research he is talking about, most likely, he is referring to the data of the National exit poll conducted by a consortium that includes the Ilk Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) and the Ukrainian Center for Economic and Political Research named after Alexander Razumkov.

According to a study on the characteristics of the candidates' electorate, Zelensky really enjoys great support among young people. So, in the group of voters from 18 to 29 years, they voted for him 57% of voters, while for Poroshenko - only 14.

According to statistics, older people are really actively voting for the current president, but it would be wrong to say that they are predominantly residents of a village without a higher education.

According to the same survey, half of the voters supporting Poroshenko are people with higher and incomplete higher education.

Also, the published research data states that the largest percentage of the rural electorate belongs to Oleg Lyashko (62%) and Yulia Tymoshenko (43%). It is indicated that the bulk of Poroshenko’s electorate - more than 40% - are residents of regional centers.

On the subject: Zelensky spoke about his attitude to Putin. VIDEO

Statement: Ukrainian authorities prohibit the publication of opinion polls before the election.

"Ukraine. There is exactly a week left until the decisive second round of the presidential election. Voting will take place next Sunday. So far, the ratio of preferences for the remaining two candidates - Zelensky and Poroshenko - is 61% to 24%, with 15 undecided. Here is a table from the Ukrainian sociological group “Rating”. The data was published despite prohibitions from the current government in Kyiv.” (Dmitry Kiselev, Vesti Nedeli, Russia April 1,14, XNUMX).

Fact Check: It is unclear what kind of ban from the authorities Dmitry Kiselev is talking about. However, Article 56 of the Law “On the Presidential Elections of Ukraine” refers only to a ban on the publication of opinion polls “during the last two days before election day (before the day of re-voting).” The document also provides ban on publishing results polls directly on election day or on the day of re-voting before it ends.

Moreover, on the threshold of the second round of elections, several sociological polls were published on the topic, including group "Rating" and Kiev International Institute of Sociology. At the same time Zelensky is consistently leading in the polls.

As previously reported by ForumDaily:

• Showman Vladimir Zelensky in first round of presidential elections in Ukraine significantly ahead of the current president, Petro Poroshenko.
• After long negotiations, the candidates in the end agreed to hold a joint debate before the second round. They will be held on April 19.
• The second round of elections will take place on April 21.
• Citizens of Ukraine who are permanently or temporarily abroad can take part in the voting if they are in the voter list at the relevant foreign polling station on the basis of a valid passport. The list of polling stations in the USA can be found by link.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Zelensky hired an American lobbying company to form an image in the USA

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Ukrainian Trump: what the world's media writes about Zelensky

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