How Ukrainians Vote Abroad

Ukrainians are voting in the presidential elections in 72 countries around the world.

In all, there are 101 polling stations in Ukrainian embassies and consulates. The central election commission has counted over 410,000 registered voters abroad and has delivered ballots to each station accordingly. The country with the largest number of polling stations is Germany, with five.

There are four polling stations each in countries with some of the largest Ukrainian diasporas: Italy, the United States, and Poland. In Poland alone, there are over 1 million Ukrainian citizens.

In neighboring Belarus, Moldova, and Hungary, there are two polling stations. Romania and Slovakia both have one. Ukrainians living in Russia are able to vote in Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Finland.

There are also large numbers of Ukrainian citizens in Canada, Spain, and Turkey. There are three polling stations in each of these countries.

The largest polling station by the number of registered voters is located in Moldova, with 52,000. The smallest is in Serbia, with just 42 registered voters.

The first Ukrainians abroad to vote are those living in Australia. Kyiv time, the polling station in Canberra opened at 11 p.m. Saturday. In Ukraine, all polling stations opened at 8 a.m. and remain open to 8 p.m. local time. The last polling station to close will be in San Francisco, 10 hours after polls close in Ukraine.

In the first round of the Presidential election, approximately 55,000 Ukrainians abroad voted.

Record voter turnout abroad occurred in 2004, when over 100,000 Ukrainians voted. The lowest turnout was recorded during Ukraine’s 2012 Parliamentary elections. On average, just 10 percent of registered Ukrainian voters abroad took part in elections.