26/10/2012 Election observation
Kyiv, 26.10.2012 -- The heads of the parliamentary delegations of the OSCE, Council of Europe, European Parliament and NATO, and of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) election observation mission today met in Kyiv to begin the final phase of the international election observation mission.
The International Election Observation Mission comprises more than 800 observers. Walburga Habsurg Douglas, is the Special Co-ordinator to lead the short-term OSCE observer mission and Head of the OSCE PA delegation. Pawel Kowal heads the European Parliament delegation. Andreas Gross heads the PACE delegation. Assen Agov heads the NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegation, and Audrey Glover is the Head of the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission.
At the start of their two days of briefings in Kyiv, the heads of the parliamentary delegations and of ODIHR issued the following statement:
“We appreciate the invitation to observe the parliamentary elections in Ukraine. The record number of observers that have come here from North America, Europe and Central Asia for this event underscores the importance we as the international community place on Ukraine’s democratic progress. We hope to see the citizens of Ukraine participate fully in Sunday’s vote and look forward to issuing our joint statement about these elections on Monday.”
Media contacts:
Neil Simon, OSCE PA, [email protected], +38095 931 1285
Agnese Krivade, European Parliament, [email protected], +38 066 521 4811
Angus Macdonald, PACE, [email protected], +38 097 259 9713
Svitlana Svyetova, NATO PA, [email protected], +38 095 931 0146
Thomas Rymer, OSCE/ODIHR, [email protected], +38 050 388 85 71