You're reading: EU sees ‘deterioration’ of Ukraine’s elections

 Brussels, November 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The European Union is concerned about delays in the vote count after the October 28 parliamentary elections in Ukraine and expects "swift and determined action" from Kyiv.

This is stipulated in a joint statement by EU High Representative for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President of the European
Commission Catherine Ashton, and EU Commissioner for Enlargement and
European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule.

Noting that Brussels has “followed closely the vote count, tabulation
and the announcement of the consolidated results,” Ashton and Fule
said: “We express our concern about the conduct of the post electoral
process, which was marred by irregularities, delays in the vote count
and lack of transparency in the electoral commissions.”

The EU officials said that “this comes in addition to the lack of
response to the shortcomings and problems identified already earlier by
the OSCE-ODIHR interim reports.”

“Taken together, this represents deterioration in several areas
compared to standards previously achieved. There can be no complacency
about electoral irregularities,” they said.

In this regard, Ashton and Fule said that in line with the public
commitment to follow-up on electoral complaints made last week by
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, they expected “to see swift and
determined action by the government and all other relevant state
authorities, including by addressing the inconclusive results in five
single-mandate election districts in dialog with all political parties
represented in the Verkhovna Rada and by bringing the electoral
legislation into line with European norms and standards on the basis of
an Election Code.”

“The final composition of the Ukrainian parliament must reflect the genuine will of the Ukrainian voters,” they said.

The EU representatives said that they remained committed to their
engagement with Ukraine towards political association and economic
integration.

“This however requires determined action by the Ukrainian government
and parliament to consolidate the country’s democratic credentials, to
pursue the rule of law, to address the consequences of selective justice
and to vigorously pursue judicial and other critical reforms,” Ashton
and Fule said.