Kyiv, November 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – UDAR party leader Vitali Klitschko has called on the European Union and international organizations to send as much international observers as possible for parliamentary elections in Ukraine in 2012.
“Public organizations and our partners in the West should currently start monitoring the situation around the upcoming elections in Ukraine. In our opinion, the law [on parliamentary elections] adopted by the Verkhovna Rada creates prerequisites for the use of the government apparatus and finances at majority districts and unequal conditions for the nomination of candidates. It was adopted in violation of the regulations, therefore, the more attention organizations and the world pay to the Ukrainian elections, the more democracy will win,” he said in Brussels at a meeting with his European colleagues, in particular, President of the European People’s Party Wilfried Martens, the party’s press service reported on Friday.
On November 17, 2011, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law that foresees the election of people’s deputies under a mixed system (50% from party lists and 50% from constituencies), introduces a 5% election threshold and bans the participation of blocs of political parties. The elections to the Verkhovna Rada are to be held in the autumn of 2012.
Klitschko said that the elections in 2012 would only be considered democratic if former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko participate in them. Both are jailed on corruption charges that are widely seen in and outside of Ukraine to be a politically motivated attempt by President Viktor Yanukovych to sideline his opponents.
