The parliamentary elections in Ukraine demonstrated a trend towards increased authoritarianism in the country, according to the head of the election observation mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Andreas Gross, the Tyzhden.ua online newspaper has reported.
When asked whether the nature and course of the parliamentary election campaign in Ukraine had changed compared with the last elections in 2007, he said: “If you want a short summary, I would say that we saw a trend towards the strengthening of authoritarianism.”
“Today the oligarchs and money have more power than was the case in 2007, and they are controlling the public sphere,” Gross said.
He also noted that Ukrainian citizens feel alienated from the voting process.
“Money has become even stronger and more powerful, while citizens feel pushed away to the side and even more alienated from the process. More people, compared with 2007, don’t recognize their choice in the parliament that was elected in October 2012,” Gross said.
