You're reading: PACE president concerned about upcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine

Strasbourg - President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Jean-Claude Mignon has said that the PACE is concerned that the upcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine will not be held as smoothly as expected.

He said at a press conference in Strasbourg on Monday ahead of the PACE plenary session that the upcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine had been briefly discussed at the latest meeting of the PACE Bureau.

“Andy Gross [Andreas Gross, the leader of the Socialist Group who led the PACE observation mission for the elections in Ukraine] made a brief comment. We are quite concerned about how these elections could be held. We, without any doubt, will condemn what deserves to be condemned if things do not go as smoothly as we hope,” Mignon said.

He noted that following the results of the pre-election mission to Ukraine, which was also headed by Gross, he issued a statement in which “it’s already clear that these elections cannot be held as smoothly as we hope.”

“We will observe the elections very closely,” he said.