The parliamentary elections in Ukraine were competitive, but abuses of administrative leverage significantly affected the fairness of the election process, Chairman of the Civil Society Election Observation Mission Markus Meckel has said.
“Despite all of the drawbacks, the elections process was competitive,
and this allowed voters to express their political preferences,” he
said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.
The observer added that the elections were held properly and the election day was calm in general.
“At the same time, significant abuses of power by some officials
significantly affected the fairness of the whole election process,”
Meckel said.
He added that “the controversial” proceeding and imprisonment of opposition leaders did no good to the election climate.
Meckel added that the parliamentary elections in Ukraine were
“practically free,” however they could not be described as fair due to
the imprisonment of opposition leaders.
Meckel together with former Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski
headed the Civil Society Election Observation Mission in Ukraine. The
mission has been working in Ukraine since September 17, and will
continue its work until November 7, 2012. The mission will present its
final report on the elections in late November.
