Polling Places Open In Ukraine As Snap Parliamentary Election Kicks Off

Umer Jamshaid Published July 21, 2019 | 10:30 AM

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st July, 2019) Polling places opened on Sunday in Ukraine marking the start of the snap parliamentary election.

Polling stations will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time (05:00 - 17:00 GMT).

A total of 24 political parties and some 3,220 candidates from single-mandate Constituencies are running for the parliament.

The Ukrainian parliament, Verkhovna Rada, has 450 seats, of which 225 will be taken through party lists and the other 225 by a majority vote in single-mandate electoral districts.

The minimum vote threshold to win a seat amounts to 5 percent.

Kiev refused to let Russian observers monitor the election. Ukraine has also withdrawn the invitation for monitors from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which decided to restore the right of the Russian delegation last month.

As a result of Kiev choosing to close polling stations in Russia as well as in the Donbas region, 7-10 million Ukrainian citizens will not be able to vote in the election.