Democratic standards and mechanisms have made a great step forward and have stabilised democracy in Ukraine, according to MEPs who observed Sunday's election in Ukraine.
Democratic standards and mechanisms have made a great step forward and have stabilised democracy in Ukraine, according to MEPs who observed Sunday's election in Ukraine. The voting process was well organised and no serious irregularity was noted, they said, despite some problems which will need to be addressed in the future.
Pawel Kowal, chair of the delegation, said: “The people of Ukraine had a genuine democratic choice between a large number of candidates. Open access to information about the candidates and their programmes allowed Ukrainian voters to make well-founded use of a pluralistic choice”.
The European Parliament delegation to the presidential elections in Ukraine on Sunday 17 January 2010, was made up of 10 MEPs: Pawel Robert Kowal (ECR,PL), Chair, Andrzej Grzyb (EPP, PL), Elzbieta Katarzyna Lukacijewska (EPP, PL), Algirdas Saudargas (EPP, LT), Inese Vaidere (EPP, LV), Marek Siwiec (S&D, PL), Kristian Vigenin (S&D, BG), Barbara Weiler (S&D, DE), Adina-Ioana Valean (ALDE, RO) and Rebecca Harms (Greens/EFA, DE). They observed the electoral process in 50 polling stations throughout Ukraine in the Lviv, Donetsk and Kyiv areas.
According to Mr Siwiec, “looking back to the last presidential elections in 2004/2005, democratic standards and mechanisms, and in particular in this election, have really placed Ukraine at the level of the European Union”. “Free and fair elections are the best guarantee for Ukraine to continue on its way to the European Union” said Mr Saudargas.
Mrs Weiler praised the high level of commitment of women in this election. The EP Election Observation Delegation anticipates that the second round will be conducted along the same standards, said Mr Vigenin.
As usual for electoral observation missions within the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) area, the EP delegation cooperated closely with the longer-term electoral observation teams from the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), as well as delegations from the Parliamentary Assemblies of the OSCE, NATO and the Council of Europe.