A delegation of 14 MEPs starts on October 24 its activities to observe the 2014 parliamentary elections in Ukraine, the press service of the EU Delegation to Ukraine reported on Oct. 24.
The delegation is led by Croatian MEP Andrej Plenkovic, a representative of the European People’s Party.
“The forthcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine are important for consolidation of democracy in Ukraine, especially since in some regions they are held in very demanding circumstances. We, together with other international observers, will have an important role in observing that the elections are conducted in a free and fair manner,” he said.
According to the report, the aim of MEPs’ mission is to assess whether the 2014 parliamentary elections in Ukraine are conducted according to country’s international commitments and national laws. MEPs will be guided in their work by international standards and criteria, as defined by OSCE/ODIHR, and grounded in fundamental civil and political rights.
On Oct. 24-25, MEPs will meet the Ukrainian electoral authorities, international and Ukrainian election observation organizations, leaders of the main political parties, civil society and media representatives. Meetings with Ukraine’s president, prime minister and foreign minister are also scheduled.
On Sunday, Oct. 26, on Election Day, MEPs will observe the elections in the capital Kyiv and also the cities of Cherkasy, Odesa, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk. They will visit polling stations, watch the voting process and observe the opening of the ballot boxes and counting of votes.
The delegation will finish its work after the joint press conference in the afternoon on Oct. 27, where they, together with other international observers, will present the preliminary conclusions on the election process.
The EP delegation will be integrated in an International Election Observation Mission led by the long-term expert mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR).
“The whole political spectrum of the European Parliament and various EU countries are represented in the delegation,” reads the report.
Plenkovic is authorized to speak on behalf of the delegation.
In addition to Plenkovic, the delegation includes three more EPP representatives (Anna Maria Corazza Bildt from Sweden, Joachim Zeller from Germany, and Michal Boni from Poland), as well as three representative of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (Kati Piri from the Netherlands, Tibor Szanyi from Hungary, and Miroslav Poche from the Czech Republic), two representatives of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (Ryszard Czarnecki from Poland and Mark Demesmaeker from Belgium), and two representatives of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (Johannes van Baalen from the Netherlands and Petras Austrevicius from Lithuania).
The delegation also includes Miloslav Ransdorf (the Czech Republic, European United Left – Nordic Green Left), Rebecca Harms (Germany, the Greens/European Free Alliance) and Valentinas Mazuronis (Lithuania, Europe for Freedom and Direct Democracy group).
