The European Union is concerned about delays in the vote count after the October 28 parliamentary elections in Ukraine and expects "swift and determined action" from Kyiv.

This is stipulated in a joint statement by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President of the European Commission Catherine Ashton, and EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule.

Noting that Brussels has "followed closely the vote count, tabulation and the announcement of the consolidated results," Ashton and Fule said: "We express our concern about the conduct of the post electoral process, which was marred by irregularities, delays in the vote count and lack of transparency in the electoral commissions."

The EU officials said that "this comes in addition to the lack of response to the shortcomings and problems identified already earlier by the OSCE-ODIHR interim reports."

"Taken together, this represents deterioration in several areas compared to standards previously achieved. There can be no complacency about electoral irregularities," they said.

In this regard, Ashton and Fule said that in line with the public commitment to follow-up on electoral complaints made last week by Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, they expected "to see swift and determined action by the government and all other relevant state authorities, including by addressing the inconclusive results in five single-mandate election districts in dialog with all political parties represented in the Verkhovna Rada and by bringing the electoral legislation into line with European norms and standards on the basis of an Election Code."

"The final composition of the Ukrainian parliament must reflect the genuine will of the Ukrainian voters," they said.

The EU representatives said that they remained committed to their engagement with Ukraine towards political association and economic integration.

"This however requires determined action by the Ukrainian government and parliament to consolidate the country's democratic credentials, to pursue the rule of law, to address the consequences of selective justice and to vigorously pursue judicial and other critical reforms," Ashton and Fule said.