During the regular meeting held on 19 May 2014, the Central Election Commission has finished registering official observers from foreign states and international organizations for special elections of the President of Ukraine. The total number of such observers is 2784 persons.

593 observers were registered during meeting of the CEC. As of 19 May, the total number of official observers from foreign states and international organizations is 2,784 persons, who represent 19 states (282 persons) and 19 international organizations (2,502 persons).

Compared to 2009-2010 Presidential election, the number of official observers has decreased: there were 330 representatives from 19 foreign states, and 3,449 from international organizations. However, it should be taken into consideration that there were a lot of representatives from the Russian Federation and Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States, particularly as a part of organization missions from international organizations: The Commonwealth of the Independent States - Election Monitoring Organization (CIS-EMO) NGO (416 persons), International Union of NGOs, the International Union of Komsomol Organizations - the x-USSR United Lenin Communist Youth Union (162 persons), Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (84 persons). Besides that, observers from the CIS and the Russian Federation were included to other official observation missions for the 2014 Presidential election, particularly from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

Official observers from international organizations

During the special presidential election, the largest observation missions will be deployed by the following international organizations: Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (1,056 persons), European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) - 382 persons, Ukrainian World Congress (236 persons), and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (222 persons).

A considerable number of observers will represent the Canadian Election Observation Mission (CANEOM) – 157 persons, Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – 156 persons, and the Committee for Open Democracy – 77 persons.

Official observers from foreign states

This year, the CEC has registered official observers from nineteen foreign states. The following countries have the largest number of observers: the Republic of Poland (61), the Republic of Lithuania (31), the Kingdom of Denmark (28), and Hungary (22). It's interesting that Poland and the USA had the largest number of representatives also during 2009-2010 Presidential Election – 109 and 76 persons respectively. Quite less observers were from the Russian Federation (39), the Republic of Lithuania (28), and the Kingdom of Denmark (20).

It should also be mentioned that during its meeting on 19 May, the Central Election Commission has refused to register official observersfrom two organizations: the Union of Legal Entities "World Union of Cossacks Atamans International NGO" and the European Platform for Democratic Elections (registration documents submitted by the European Exchange organization). Both organizations received the refusal because they've violated the procedure of registration for official observers from foreign states and international organizations on elections of the President of Ukraine, established by the Resolution of the CEC as of 4 March 2014and the documents they submitted do not correspond to the requirements of the Law of Ukraine on Election of the President of Ukraine.

The documents, submitted by the Union of Legal Entities "World Union of Cossacks Atamans International NGO" to the CEC, didn't contain a confirmation of "statutory activities related to the electoral process and electoral observation activities".

As for the other organization, the CEC has found that the European Platform for Democratic Elections didn't provide the necessary documents to prove its status of an international organization. Therefore, the CEC ruled that the documents, submitted fir registration if official observers, do not correspond to the legislative and procedural requirements.

We remind that the goal of international observers during elections is to secure an unbiased analysis of the election process regarding its correspondence to the generally recognized democratic standards and principles, as well as international obligations of Ukraine.

(Pictures were taken from dt.ua)

Reference:

Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA - is a type of network activity, aimed at impartial assessment of the preparation and conduct of elections, as well as preventing electoral violations through comprehensive civic action. Since March, OPORA conducts a wide observation campaign during snap Presidential election, interim Parliamentary elections (district #83), and special local elections. The organization cooperates with 175 long-term observers, who are watching the course of election campaign in all Ukrainian regions. On the Election Day on May 25, 3,000 activists will join them to conduct the parallel vote tabulation, based on statistical sample.