Ballot Papers

1. Voting in the election of MPs shall be performed using ballot papers for the election of MPs of Ukraine (hereinafter, ballot papers).

2. The form, color, and text of the ballot papers for voting shall be approved by the Central Election Commission no later than twenty-four days prior to the day of voting.

The security features of a ballot paper shall be established by the Central Election Commission within the same time period.

A ballot paper must contain the name and the date of the election, the number and the name of the electoral region, the number of the territorial district or indication that the election district is an out-of-country election district, the number of the election precinct, as well as places designated for the precinct election commission’s seal.

The text of a ballot paper shall be printed in the official language and shall be placed on one sheet and on one side only.

3. The names of parties shall be listed on the ballot paper in the order determined by drawing lots, which shall be conducted by the Central Election Commission under the procedure established thereby, with participation of party’s representatives to the Central Election Commission, MP candidates, party’s authorized persons in the nationwide election district after the end of registration of MP candidates, but before approval of the form and text of the ballot paper.

4. The ballot paper shall contain the number of each party determined by drawing lots, the full name of the respective party, last names and initials of the first nine MP candidates entered in the nationwide electoral list, as well as ordinal numbers, last names and initials of all MP candidates included in the respective regional electoral list of the party.

The ballot paper for voting in an out-of-country district shall indicate the number of each party determined by drawing lots, the full name of the respective party, last names and initials of the first nice MP candidates included in the nationwide electoral list.

The ballot paper for voting in an out-of-country district does not contain information on the candidates included in the regional electoral list of the party.

An empty box shall be placed to the right of the full name of each party.

Under an ordinal number and the full name of the party, which has been assigned to the last place on the ballot, in accordance with the sequence of parties, determined pursuant to paragraph one of this Article, at a distance of no less than three centimeters from the name of such party, a text in capital letters stating “From the political party, for which I voted, I support an MP candidate” shall appear, with an empty rectangle placed next to it to the right, which contains the sign “No.” with a free space for a voter to fill out the number of an MP candidate (except for the ballot papers for voting in an out-of-country district).

5. A ballot paper shall contain an explanation of the procedure for filling out the ballot paper by a voter during the voting.

6. A ballot paper shall have a counterfoil, separated by a tear-off line. The counterfoil shall contain the name and the date of the election, the number and the name of the electoral region, the number of the territorial district or an indication that the election district is an out-of-country election district, the number of the election precinct, as well as places designated for the number under which a voter was entered in the voter list for the election precinct, the signature of the voter receiving the ballot paper, and the last name, initials, and signature for the precinct election commission member issuing the ballot paper.

7. The ballot paper shall be a document of strict accountability. The Central Election Commission, regional and territorial representations of the Central Election Commission, district and precinct election commissions shall keep a precise record of ballot papers received and delivered in accordance with this Code.

8. The ballot papers shall be printed, as a rule, for each election precinct of each territorial district in an amount exceeding by 0.5 percent the number of voters included in the voter lists for the election precincts, with possible deviation from the aforementioned number resulting from the multiplicity of ballot papers being printed on a typing sheet. The ballot papers shall be printed for each election precinct of the out-of-country election district in an amount that shall be determined by the Central Election Commission based on the amount of voters included in the voter lists for the respective out-of-country election precinct, the amount of voters that received ballot papers at that particular election precinct in the last nationwide election and the average quantity of voters that received ballot papers in election precincts of the out-of-country election district in the last nationwide election.

If it is established that the number of voters at certain precinct at the time of completion of the production of ballots is greater than the number of ballots produced, the Central Election Commission may, if possible, decide to order an additional number of ballots for such polling stations.

9. If the Central Election Commission decides to conduct an experiment or pilot project using innovative technologies in accordance with Part one of Article

18 of this Code, the Central Election Commission shall organize the manufacture of experimental ballot papers for such experiment or pilot project simultaneously with the actions provided for in Articles 169 and 170 of this Code.

An experimental ballot paper developed in accordance with the first paragraph of this Part shall:

1) differ in form and color from the ballot paper, the form of which is approved by the Central Election Commission in accordance with Part two of this Article;

2) at the top contain in capital letters an inscription: "EXPERIMENT" or "PILOT PROJECT";

3) under the information specified in paragraph 2 of this Part, contain the following text: “Completion of this ballot paper by a voter does not certify his or her expression of will, does not create legal consequences, cannot be used to establish the results of the election, as well be used to appeal against decisions, actions or inactions of participants in the election process.”