The parliamentary elections in Ukraine may be either partially democratic or undemocratic, but a democratic parliamentary race under the current conditions is out of the question, Leader of the Front for Change Party and the Council of the United Opposition Arseniy Yatseniuk said during a meeting with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland.
At their meeting in Kyiv on Monday, Yatseniuk and Jagland discussed
the upcoming elections in Ukraine, the role of international observers
in them, the fight against corruption, the reform of the judicial system
and the problems with media freedom in Ukraine, the press service of
the Batkivschyna United Opposition reported.
Jagland said that the elections in Ukraine should be transparent and fair.
In turn, Yatseniuk noted that the opposition will make every effort
to stop the bribery of voters and the officials of election commissions,
and will present the international observers with direct evidence of
violations of the electoral law.
Jagland also expressed his concern over the situation with the
freedom of media in Ukraine. Yatseniuk said that by an order of the
Ukrainian president, the National Council for Television and Radio
Broadcasting was intentionally destroying the last opposition channel in
Ukraine – TVi. He assured that the opposition supported the channel and
would demand the restoration of its broadcasting in full across
Ukraine.
Yatseniuk and Jagland also spoke about corruption in Ukraine. The
secretary general of the Council of Europe noted that there was
corruption in Ukraine before the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych.
“Corruption is indeed characteristic of all post-Soviet countries,
but now we see a concentrated level of corruption in Ukraine, and we
should be fighting this immediately,” Yatseniuk said.
Jagland sent his regards to Leader of Batkivschyna United Opposition Yulia Tymoshenko.
