PACE to observe Ukraine elections

The delegation, which will work alongside observers from the OSCE and NATO Parliamentary Assemblies and the European Parliament, will arrive in Kyiv on 23 March. They are due to meet party representatives, election officials and representatives of civil society and the media as well as observing polling on the day of the vote.

The delegation will be accompanied by a member of the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s group of independent legal experts, which has adopted opinions on Ukraine’s laws on elections of people's deputies and the State redister of voters. 

A delegation from the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities will be observing the local and regional elections, which take place on the same day as the parliamentary elections.

A four-member PACE pre-election delegation which visited the country from 28 February to 2March 2006 welcomed in a statement the “vastly improved atmosphere” in which the electoral campaign was taking place, but said some areas of concern remained.

The delegation is composed as follows:

Socialist Group (SOC)

Sinikka HURSKAINEN              Finland

Tadeusz IWIŃSKI                     Poland

Tony LLOYD                           United Kingdom

Rainder STEENBLOCK           Germany

Frans TIMMERMANS              Netherlands

Birutй VĖSAITĖ                       Lithuania

Group of the European People’s Party (EPP/CD)

Pedro AGRAMUNT                  Spain

Jean-Guy BRANGER               France

Erol Aslan CEBECI                  Turkey

Еse Gunhild Woie DUESUND  Norway

Urszula GACEK                       Poland

Andres HERKEL                      Estonia

Oskars KASTĒNS                    Latvia

Ibrahim ЦZAL                          Turkey

Kimmo SASI                            Finland

Renate WOHLWEND*             Liechtenstein

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)

Gurgen ARSENYAN                Armenia

Stef GORIS                             Belgium

Mike HANCOCK                      United Kingdom

Johannes RANDEGGER         Switzerland

Franзois ROCHEBLOINE        France

Hanne SEVERINSEN*             Denmark

Gabor SZALAY                       Hungary

Jelleke VEENENDAAL            Netherlands

European Democrat Group (EDG)

Toomas ALATALU                 Estonia

Mevlьt ЗAVUŞOĞLU*            Turkey

Nigel EVANS                         United Kingdom

Morten MESSERSCHMIDT    Denmark

Ganira PASHAYEVA              Azerbaijan

Yuri SOLONIN                        Russia

Emanuelis ZINGERIS             Lithuania

Group of the Unified European Left (UEL)

Doros CHRISTOUDOULIDES* Cyprus

Venice Commission

Angel SANCHEZ NAVARRO, Expert Spain

* These members were part of the pre-election delegation.