BRUSSELS – Mevlut Cavusoglu, the former PACE president and a member of the PACE observation mission for the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, has said he thinks that it is wrong to assess the elections in Ukraine before Election Day.
“At this stage, I cannot predict the result, and I cannot say that
the elections will be exemplary or bad. At this point, criticizing
individuals like my friend Gross [Andreas Gross, the head of the PACE
observation mission, who said earlier that the preparatory process
already causes concern with respect to the elections], I would say that
it is not correct to anticipate a negative assessment of the elections.
But I also cannot predict the result of the elections in a positive way.
It’s necessary to wait until the end of the whole process,” Cavusoglu
said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
In this regard, Cavusoglu said that this was the common position of the PACE observation mission, rather than his own position.
He noted that this year the PACE had adopted two resolutions on
Ukraine, in particular, on the functioning of democratic institutions
and on the implementation of commitments assumed.
“Both resolutions emphasized that the PACE’s concern regarding the
trials against Tymoshenko should not be used to undermine the legitimacy
of the elections. The election is a process, including the election
campaign, legislation, access to the media, Election Day, and so on –
there are a lot of criteria. Thus, this is contrary to our principles
and resolutions so that anyone makes a premature assessment of the
elections,” he said.
Speaking about the current election campaign, Cavusoglu said that there was “progress and some concern about the whole process.”
“For example, during the election observation mission in Ukraine, we
received a sufficient number of complaints in relation to access to the
media. But later I saw the statistics, and it was not so as we were told
during meetings in Kyiv. We were told that the ruling party had
monopolized the media and that the opposition has no access. But in
reality, the statistics showed a different picture,” he said, while
describing the situation.
The PACE observer also noted that “if we talk about oligarchic
candidates, we have seen them in all of the parties. So with respect to
the oligarchic policy in the country, we can complain against the entire
system, rather than one party.”
