You're reading: At least 3,000 international observers to monitor Ukrainian parliamentary elections

At least 3,000 observers will monitor the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, according to the findings of the poll conducted in June 2012 by Policy analytical center.

“The majority of the polled organizations and representatives of foreign countries in Ukraine definitely said they would monitor the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, and are sending their representatives as part of OSCE and PACE missions and also other international organizations,” director of the Policy center Mykola Davydiuk said at a press conference on Tuesday, referring to the results of a poll of the leading international organizations and representatives of the foreign countries that will observe over the elections to the Ukrainian parliament.

In particular, according to him, PACE will send to Ukraine about 40 observers, the ENEMO mission – up to 500 monitors, and the OSCE and ODIHR – about 700 international monitors.

“On the results of the conducted poll, at least 3,000 international observers will attend Ukrainian parliamentary elections this year,” Davydiuk said.

In turn, Chairman of the board at the Voters Committee of Ukraine Oleksandr Chernenko said the number of monitors could exceed 3,000 people.

“This is clear from the history of international monitoring at all preliminary elections in Ukraine, and by comparing with the number of observers at the elections in Russia,” he said.

According to the expert, Ukraine is an exemplary country according to the organization of the work of the foreign observers.

“I don’t remember any cases of international observers being refused accreditation, or registration in Ukraine, though very often these people didn’t fulfill their functions as the observers, but became an element of the political campaign in Ukraine,” he added.

Political expert Kost Bondarenko, commenting on the results of the poll, said that the Ukrainian government, given the situation with the imprisonment of ex-Premier Yulia Tymoshenko and ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, wants the elections to be fair and transparent.

“This explains why the authorities sent invitations to the international observers much earlier … The main thing for the government is to show the legitimacy of the elections, their transparency. And the main this is that this legitimacy and transparency is confirmed by international observers, so nobody has any doubts,” the expert said.

The parliamentary elections in Ukraine will be held on October 28, 2012.