The delegation of observers of the International Republican Institute (IRI) concludes that the election to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of 30 September, 2007, corresponded to the international standards. However, problems, peculiar to the previous election, continue to influence negatively the electoral process in Ukraine. The observers recommend the Ukrainian government, parliament, state officials, involved in organizing the election, and courts, to solve these problems in advance before the regular elections in 2009.
Despite the problems, the IRI delegation marked a number of positive aspects: members of district and territorial electoral commissions managed to provide a calm and peaceful atmosphere on the day of voting. The observers also praised efforts of political parties, activists of which worked as electoral commission members and observers.
IRI stresses that in the course of the electoral campaign, parties and candidates had opportunity to wage their campaigns freely and had access to mass media. Journalists could cover the electoral campaign without any illegal intermingling into their professional activities, and parties could buy air at television and radio, and area in newspapers, without restrictions.
The use of the administrative resource was restricted during the electoral campaign.
However, problems with lists of electors, continue to undermine people’s trust to the electoral process. The decrees of the Central Electoral Commission, adopted on the eve of the snap poll, caused confusion among electors and probably deprived hundreds thousands of electors of their right to vote. Having carried out five elections in less then three years, Ukraine should have got rid of this problems. The delegation recommends state officials and people, involved in organizing the election, to pay attention to the quality of electors lists, to provide their accuracy at the regular election.
