02/02/2010 Election observation
Strasbourg, 02.02.2010 – A 30-member delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE), will be in Ukraine from 5 to 8 February to observe the second round of the presidential election, alongside observers from the OSCE and NATO Parliamentary Assemblies, the European Parliament and the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
The delegation will meet the two candidates, the head of the election observation mission of OSCE/ODIHR and her team, the Central Electoral Commission and civil society and media representatives before observing the ballot on 7 February in a sample of polling stations across the country.
The Assembly observed the first round as part of the international election observation mission and concluded that it had been of a high quality and showed significant progress over previous elections, meeting most OSCE and Council of Europe commitments.
The delegation will be accompanied by a member of the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s group of independent legal experts, which adopted – together with OSCE/ODIHR – an opinion on recent changes to the electoral framework in Ukraine.
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Preliminary conclusions will be announced at a joint press conference on Monday 8 February (time and venue to be confirmed).
Contacts:
In Strasbourg and in Kyiv (from 5 February): Angus Macdonald, PACE Communication Division, mobile: +33 6 30 49 68 20, local mobile +380 938 581 019.
In Kyiv: Anna Dmytruk, Council of Europe Information Office in Ukraine, tel. +38 044 234 3778 or 63 68.