PACE highly estimated the process of preparing the parliamentary election in Ukraine

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe estimated highly the process of the preparation of the parliamentary election in Ukraine, stated Director of the Department of the Information Policy of Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oleg Voloshin.

The special pre-election mission of PACE for the observing the process of election preparation visited Ukraine on 19-21 September 2012.

Oleg Voloshin also said that the special mission issued the general statement: “We would like to take note on some of our remarks and wishes regarding the upcoming election. The mission is also concerned with the trials and imprisonment of several oppositional leaders, including Julia Tymoshenko and Yury Lutsenko. But this issue cannot be the decisive one while talking about the legitimacy of the election”.

According to the statement of Oleg Voloshin the presence of the international observers in Ukraine during the process of the preparation and the future election confirms our readiness to conduct the fair and transparent democratic election.

We would remind you that the international observers from the special PACE mission stated they are deeply concerned with the so called “oligarchization” of Ukrainian policy which means the merger of the political and economic interests. PACE urged Ukrainian authorities to avoid using the administrative resources during the election and stressed the future parliamentary election would indicate the willingness of Ukraine to follow the international standards and principles of policy, democracy and the possible European integration for Ukraine.

PACE also called on the media for the ensuring of the pluralism and freedom of expression and also for the possibility for all the political forces taking part in the upcoming election to present their programs using the equal access to media sources. The freedom of expression and media is one of the fundamental rights and should be respected in the country which is willing to lead to the European community.

Oleg Voloshin, spokesperson of Ukrainian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs

In addition to that the representatives of the PACE mission urged Ukrainian authorities to take into account the recommendations of the experts of the European Parliament while voting for the controversial law which could criminalize the slander in media, as this law could be a real threat to the freedom of media and violates the principles and standards of the democratic society.

The situation with the investigations and trials of Ukrainian oppositional leaders including Ukrainian ex-Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko and ex Minister of Interior Yury Lutsenko along with other oppositional politicians is another obstacle in the relations between Ukraine, EU and USA. The international community is deeply concerned with the selective justice and politically motivated judicial decisions in Ukraine and urges the Ukrainian authorities to conduct the deep reforms of judiciary and of other key sectors of the government.

USA issued recently the resolution which called for immediate release of Julia Tymoshenko and other oppositional leaders and stated the sanctions and visa restrictions could be imposed on the Ukrainian high authorities. US and EU consider the upcoming election being a very important test for Ukraine and its future relations with the international community. EU and USA are calling for Ukraine to hold the fair and transparent election according to the democratic standards.