You're reading: Election observers deployed for May 25 election amid pro-Russian separatist movement in Donbas

Ukraine will host one of the biggest contingents of election observers since independence when voters on May 25 cast ballots for their fifth president. 

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is
sending 1,000 observers, 100 of whom are long term, and 900 short term. On May
12, a Canadian government-funded mission deployed 39 long-term observers
throughout Ukraine who, by election day, will be joined by an additional 100
short term observers.

Should a second election round take place, 200 additional
observers will be deployed, stated a news release by the Canadian Election
Observation Missions, an independent team consisting of the Forum of
Federations, an Ottowa non-profit group, in partnership with CUSO
International, a non-profit that sends volunteers abroad to reduce global
poverty, as well as the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

“Free and fair elections in accordance
with internationally agreed standards are essential to stabilize the situation
in the country,” OSCE President Burkhalter said during the May 12 meeting
of the EU foreign affairs ministers in Brussels.

Canada’s mission director Kevin
Colbourne told the long term observers on May 12 that “we are here to
observe the elections and thereby assist in improving the transparency and
fairness of the electoral process.” 

Andriy Magera, the deputy head
of Ukraine’s Central Election Commission, told the Kyiv Post that “everything
is more or less going according to plan for the election.” 

Amid unrest in eastern Ukraine
caused by a Kremlin-backed separatist movement, Magera said anything could
change on a daily basis, adding that there have been incidents in eastern
Ukraine where terrorists have illegally seized election commission buildings.
In parliament on May 13, nationalist lawmaker and presidential candidate Oleh
Tiahnybok announced that five days ago separatists abducted his authorized
delegate Olexiy Demko in Makyivka, Donetsk Oblast. 

Forty-nine people have been
killed in Donetsk Oblast since an armed standoff began on March 13 between
Ukrainian counterterrorism forces and Kremlin-backed militants, the Donetsk
Regional State Administration reported.

A total of 245 people have been taken to
hospital with gunshot wounds over the period, according to the healthcare
department of the Donetsk regional state administration. And more than 40
people died in Odesa on May 2 in clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian activists.

“We also want to make sure
our observers are safe. In addition to security procedures, threat assessments
are being done on a daily basis, and updated as required,” added Colbourne of
the Canadian observer mission.   

As of May 13, a total of 812 election observers are
registered for the May 25 vote, according to Central Election Commission data. Fifty-six
are country representatives, and 758 are from international organizations.

Kyiv Post business
editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].