Brussels, February 4 (Interfax) - Last minute changes in the Ukrainian election laws are worrying, said European parliamentarians, who fear that it could lead to the presidential runoff on Sunday being rigged.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton should make a protest statement over the new election law passed by the Verkhovna Rada the day earlier, said two members of the European Parliament, Elmar Brok (European People’s Party) and Charles Tannock (European Conservatives and Reformists).
The EU must urgently react and express its protest because this law changes the election and election monitoring regulations, they said.
"The decision to change the electoral rules in between presidential election rounds now raises serious concerns about the vulnerability of these elections to violations and fraud which could undermine the final result," the MEPs said in a joint statement obtained by Interfax.
Brok and Tannock raised the issue at a session of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs on Thursday before Spanish Foreign Minister Angel Moratinos, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
Since the Lisbon Treaty came into effect, the matter is within the remit of the EU’s new High Representative for foreign policy, Catherine Ashton, Moratinos said.
Brok and Tannock were joined in their demands by head of the European Parliament monitoring mission, Socialist MEP Pawel Kowal, who is currently in Kyiv together with other observers.
