Elections held in competitive, generally peaceful environment – ENEMO observers
The extraordinary parliamentary elections in Ukraine were held in a peaceful environment and were competitive, said the observers of the ENEMO mission.
"Elections were held in a competitive and in general peaceful environment, despite tight deadlines and shortcomings in legislation," ENEMO observer mission head Zlatko Vujovic said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
At the same time, ENEMO observers recorded a number of violations during the election campaign, in particular, the buying of votes and campaigning by government officials, Vujovic said.
"Involvement of state officials in campaigning, putting pressure on voters in a high number of initiated cases of vote buying were reported," he said.
Also, the report of the ENEMO mission states that, based on the concentration of media owned by several individuals and their strong influence on editorial policy, there was no equal and unbiased coverage of the election campaign.
At the same time, observers noted the professionalism of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine in organizing and conducting parliamentary elections.
"ENEMO highlights the professionalism of the CEC and timely management of the electoral process, given the challenges faced regarding procurement and candidate registration," the mission's report reads.
They said that while the CEC generally operated in a transparent manner, preparatory meetings were only open to observers upon request.