"All the powerful candidates are trying to buy votes. We know they gave food to pensioners. Now we are afraid that they would pay to students. They will mark ballots and will manipulate the vote," Vadim Golovenko, an observer, told La Croix.
In Dnepropetrovsk and many other Ukrainian cities, frauds, corruption and intimidation are a regular practice, the article read.
After Ukraine adopted its decentralization laws giving control over regional budgets to local authorities, the struggle for power in Ukrainian regions has intensified.
"Despite the maidan revolution, we have the same politicians. The same rascals, with no ideology and no principles," political analyst Viktoria Polyanskaya was quoted as saying by La Croix.
Nearly every mayoral candidate in Dnepropetrovsk is supported by an oligarch, according to the article. Billionaires who have been controlling Ukraine since the middle-1990s usually support one or several candidates via non-governmental organizations, analyst and local broadcasters they own.
"It is impossible to gain access to independent information, and some issues are strictly censored. The only hope is that our society would keep an eye on those who will win the elections," journalist Zoyz Krasovskaya told La Croix.
