European Observers Evaluate Ukraine's Local Authority Elections

KIEV, Ukraine, November 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Ukraine's local authority elections, which took place on October 31, 2010, were monitored by more than two thousand international and national observers. Today many of them give their evaluations of the fairness and transparency of the voting procedure.

Pavlo Koval, the Head of the group of official observers of the European Parliament: "I didn't see any violations. Meanwhile what I heard from other observers is that there were a number of, I want to stress, minor violations. These violations are unlikely to impact the results of the voting".

Katarina Prokova, Czech Social-Democratic Party: "Generally, we have positive impression. We are glad that Ukrainians have taken advantage of their right to free and democratic choice."

Anton Kutev, Bulgarian National Assembly: "The elections have passed normally. Everything was quiet, the representatives of different parties were present."

Jan Carnogursky, CIS-EMO, Former Prime Minister of Slovakia: "There is a lot of negative information spread around the local authority elections in Ukraine. Many talk about violations and the breach of law, however, none of the parties whom I met with expressed their dissatisfaction with how the voting process went."

While the government and many international observers believe the voting procedure was fair and transparent, the representatives of the opposition claim there were a number of violations in some regions and plan to challenge the voting results in Lviv and Kyiv Oblasts (regions) and in Ternopil city as well as to demand a re-vote in the mentioned constituencies.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister Mykola Azarov welcomed the opposition's intention to challenge the elections' results in some regions. He noted that the opposition parties have to enjoy their right to refer to the court which will eventually enhance the democratic process in Ukraine.

SOURCE Worldwide News Ukraine