Ukraine’s May 25 presidential election were mostly free and fair, the nation's third largest election monitoring mission of 236 international observers found from the Ukrainian World Congress headed by U.S. Federal Judge Bohdan Futey.
“The Ukrainian government made every effort to conduct these
elections transparently and we saw no use of ‘administrative resources’ (bureaucratic
manipulation),” Futey said at news conference held at the UNIAN news agency on
May 26.
Chief observer Peter Sztyk noted that were a number of
violations, however. Primarily, the UWC mission observed “campaigning at polling
stations, names missing on voter lists, improperly sealed ballot boxes, polling
stations opening late, ballots given to voters without identification, and
interference with observers and members of the media.”
Sztyk added that where there were simultaneous local
elections in Kyiv, Mykolayiv, Odesa, Kherson and Sumy, “elections were delayed,
longer lines to vote (were observed) and polling stations had to stay open
longer (to accommodate voters).”
However, noted Futey, the violations were “isolated
incidents and not systemic in nature and didn’t affect the overall outcome of
the election.”
As of 8: 10 a.m., the Central Election Commission has processed 40 percent of ballots, with Petro Poroshenko winning by 54.38 percent, according to UNIAN.
UWC’s final election observation report will be published once the election process is complete.
Kyiv Post editor Mark
Rachkevych at [email protected].
