Renate Wohlwend, co-rapporteur of the monitoring committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has called on the Ukrainian parliament to amend a law on the presidential elections as soon as possible.
At a press conference in Kyiv, Wohlwend said that during all of her meetings with Ukrainian officials, she was trying to urge them to amend the electoral legislation within a week or two.
The rapporteur said she regretted that the relevant amendments to the electoral law hadn’t been made yet.
She said non-governmental organizations should be involved into monitoring the election campaign in Ukraine as well as the ballot itself.
Wohlwend expressed concern over the inclusion of a provision in Ukraine’s electoral legislation giving the election commission right to amend the electoral rolls on the day of the ballot. This could allow the rigging of the election results, she explained.
Clear-cut and transparent rules for the vote count and the procedure of challenging the election returns in court are also important, the rapporteur said.
As reported, on October 20, 2009, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled unconstitutional a number of clauses from new wording of the law on the election of the Ukrainian president that was earlier adopted by parliament.
On December 2, the Ukrainian parliament rejected a bill introducing amendments to some laws on the election of the Ukrainian president.
