Brussels, 29/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 29 October, international observers - amongst whom was a delegation from the European Parliament - noted that the Ukrainian parliamentary elections the previous day were marked by the lack of a level playing field. “Considering the abuse of power, and the excessive role of money in this election, democratic progress appears to have reversed in Ukraine”, said Walburga Habsburg Douglas from the OSCE in a press release.
“I think that the first conclusions are that, unfortunately, there is some regression (…) compared to the 2010 or 2007 elections, when these possibilities - particularly in the period preceding the elections - of presenting political programmes, showing how the country could be changed if a different party was elected, were much broader”, said head of the European Parliament delegation, Pawel Kowal (ECR, Poland). The S&D observers, Kristian Vigenin (Bulgaria), Marek Siwiec (Poland), Norbert Neuser (Germany), Juan Fernando Aguilar (Spain) and the head of the S&D Group at the European Parliament stated that “the conduct of Ukraine's parliamentary elections can be considered as legitimate and orderly, exceeding most critics' expectations. While various concerns were raised during the campaign, these should not discredit the outcome of the elections”.
Concerned by the lack of a level playing field between the political forces, President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz was pleased, however, by the fact that the day of the election had been “calm and peaceful”, the voting and the counting “assessed positively” and the turnout high. He hoped that Ukraine will take measures that allow it and the EU to overcome the stalemate in their relations.
Electoral campaign questioned. In their initial conclusions, the observers question the pre-electoral period, criticising the abusive use of administrative resources, the lack of transparency in the campaign, the funding of the parties and the unbalanced media coverage. They also criticise cases of intimidation, harassment of candidates, and gifts to electors in order to influence their votes. “While the observers note that the electors have choices between distinct parties and that the registration of candidates was inclusive, representing a wide range of political opinions, they note two notable exceptions - Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuri Lutsenko”. “The political environment was dominated by powerful economic groups, to the detriment of the electoral process”, they add. They regret that the government did not take appropriate measures against these violations.
The day of the elections was calm and peaceful overall. While the voting and counting were assessed positively by most of the observers, the tabulation of the results lacked transparency, the international observers say.
The number of observers deployed in Ukraine for the parliamentary elections totalled 802 and they came from 42 countries. According to partial preliminary results, the party of the Regions, of President Viktor Yanukovych, is in the lead with 35% of the votes, followed by the party of the alliance close to Yulia Tymoshenko with 22% and the communists with 15% of the votes. The turnout was apparently 58%. (CG/transl.fl)