Ukraine in Arabic | OSCE: Ukraine parliamentary elections organized properly
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ The voting and the counting of votes at the early elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has been organized properly, head of the OSCE short-term observer mission Kent Harstedt said at a press conference on Monday.
Ukraine held "consolidate, democratic elections in line with its international commitments", Kent Harstedt, leader of the short-term OSCE observer mission, said in a post-elections statement at a news conference in Kiev.
"The campaign was competitive and visible, although, we also noted intimidation and threats against candidates and workers," Harstedt added.
He said voting and counting were transparent and the campaign was competitive and visible, though there were cases of intimidation and threats against candidates and workers. The media environment was diverse, he said, but noted a lack of autonomy from political or corporate interests for some media.
Another observer, Dorist Barnett of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, said there had been some irregularities but polling stations performed well. There were difficulties holding the election, with some areas not voting, but this did not invalidate it, she added.
Harstedt said the observer mission included more than 900 people from 43 countries.
However, according to observers, the new Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) faces great challenges in terms of reforms. In particular, the parliament needs to improve the electoral legislation so as to rule out corruption and election irregularities, which did take place.