You're reading: Azarov: ‘We’re doing all we can to hold democratical elections’

The Ukrainian authorities will do everything they can to ensure that the upcoming parliamentary elections are held freely, democratically, and in full compliance with international standards, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said.

“The country is currently facing a big test – the elections. And we are doing all we can to hold them democratically, freely, in full compliance with standards,” he said at a meeting the heads of Ukraine’s diplomatic missions abroad in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Azarov said that ahead of the elections the authorities had taken an important step, which has triggered substantial material costs. In particular, he said that the issue concerned the installation of Web cameras at polling stations.

“Now we will technically be able to prevent possible manipulation and talk about fraud. Using the cameras, it will be possible to observe how many people entered [polling stations] and how many ballots are cast,” he said.

He also noted that an unprecedented number of observers would monitor the elections. He said that 600 international observers had already been registered and that 5,000 were expected.