Brussels, 27/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 26-27 Europeans hailed the early parliamentary elections in Ukraine on Sunday 26 October. Taking “good note of the OSCE's preliminary assessment” which states that the elections “marked an important step in Ukraine's aspirations to consolidate democratic elections in line with its international commitments”, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said that “this was a victory of the people of Ukraine and of democracy”. “The electoral mandate given by the Ukrainian people must now be implemented”, they added, looking forward to the early formation of a new government. Barroso and Van Rompuy underlined the need for a reinvigorated reform process, including the launching of a country-wide national dialogue. They reiterated that it was important that the upcoming early local elections in Donbas be held “under Ukrainian law” and serve “the same goal of de-escalation” and “focusing on reforms through an inclusive dialogue between the Ukrainian government and democratically elected representatives”. Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle tweeted: “Congratulations on good elections”. He added that he saw “clear choice for road towards building modern European country based on inclusive reforms”.
European Parliament President Martin Schulz congratulated the Ukrainians “for their courage and democratic resolve”. In Schulz's view, the crisis in Ukraine “has mobilised Ukrainians like never before, for the first time forging a real political nation and cementing Ukraine's European identity”. “Ukrainians can be proud of what they have achieved, of the freedom that they have regained through these orderly, fair and pluralist elections, as indicated by the electoral observation missions”, he added, nevertheless regretting that the election could not be held in the whole country. Schulz underlined “the paramount challenge” of the Ukrainian government and parliament to work for a peaceful solution to the conflict, launch an economic rebirth and key reforms. “The elections have clearly shown the resolve of the Ukrainian people to obtain change - the people have chosen Europe and peace”, said the head of the European Parliament's electoral observation mission, Andrej Plenkovic.
According to the international observers, including the European Parliament's delegation, the elections show numerous positive aspects - including an “impartial and objective” central electoral commission, competition that offered electors a true choice, and the general respect of fundamental freedoms. Nevertheless, there were acts of intimidation and threats during the last days of the campaigning as well as unfair treatment in the media. The voting process was organised and orderly although some irregularities in the procedure were identified. In most of the country, voting took place calmly but there were a few disturbances and isolated incidents. Some credible allegations of vote-buying were reported and are being studied by the authorities. Voting took place in 12 of the 21 electoral constituencies in the region of Donetsk and in 5 of the 11 constituencies in Luhansk. As a result, 27 seats will be left empty in the Rada for the moment.
After counting 40% of the votes, President Petro Poroshenko's bloc (21.5%) and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's Popular Front (21.6%) are in the lead, ahead of Samopomitch (11%), a formation comprising young activists and fighters back from the front. The turnout rate was around 54.4%. (CG)