12:44 13.11.2012

OSCE/ODIHR to issue final report on Rada elections in 2 months

3 min read
OSCE/ODIHR to issue final report on Rada elections in 2 months

Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR) Janez Lenarcic expects that the office will issue a final report on the parliamentary elections in Ukraine two months after the completion of the electoral process.

"In about two months after the completion of the electoral process the OSCE/ODIHR will issue a full and final report, which will include recommendations, in particular the priority ones," Lenarcic said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

He noted that all the OSCE member-countries had undertaken an obligation to promptly respond to the ODIHR's recommendations on elections, and expressed the hope that Ukraine would also be ready for this.

"The OSCE is ready to assist Ukraine in this process," he said.

Lenarcic also said that the statement on the preliminary findings concerning the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, which was made public on October 29 by OSCE/ODIHR, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, was based on a collective assessment by more than 800 international observers.

As for the OSCE/ODIHR mission, its observers have worked in Ukraine since September 12, Lenarcic said. The mission was made up of 20 experts from the core monitoring group, 90 long-term and 500 short-term observers.

"The head of the observation mission of the OSCE/ODIHR, Audrey Glover, is the only person authorized to act on behalf of the mission. All other potential statements or opinions are personal opinions or views of those who voice them, and do not represent the views of the Office," Lenarcic said.

After the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, head of the OSCE long-term observer mission Audrey Glover said that there was backsliding in the democratic process in Ukraine and by head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation Walburga Habsburg Douglas said that in order to hear the position of one of the key politicians in the country, one should not have to go to see them in prison.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry responded with a statement that the criticism by Douglas and Glover was their personal opinion and not the conclusion of all the members of the delegation.

"Taking into account the statements of other observers, it becomes clear that the statements by Douglas and Glover are their personal thoughts - groundless and emotional, and not the result of observations of all members of the delegation," the Foreign Ministry's press service said.

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