Our organization is grateful to the OSCE participating States like Canada, Poland, USA, the Baltic States, Great Britain, Georgia and Sweden, which provide political, diplomatic, and technical support for Ukraine and its people during these tough times.
I'd also like to emphasize that OSCE/ODIHR should continue observing elections and political processes in Ukraine. OSCE/ODIHR provides full information about correspondence of election processes in Ukraine to international standards, and points out the directions for improvements.
Assessments presented by representatives of the Russian Federation on OSCE Human Dimension Meeting cannot be unbiased, as long as this state is a side of the conflict in Ukraine.
In July 2014, on the conference of election administration bodies in Helsinki, Representative of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation stated that there is no progress in electoral legislation reform in Ukraine. This statement was also aired on OSCE meeting. However, it must be categorically disproved. Dozens of amendments were made to the Law of Ukraine on Elections of People's Deputies, adopted by Ukrainian Parliament in 2013. These amendments included OSCE/ODIHR recommendations and are favorable to European integration processes in Ukraine. For example, the size of electoral funds is now limited, the monetary pledge is smaller, and all campaign expenses shall be open and subject to mandatory publication on website of the CEC. These and a lot of other OSCE/ODIHR recommendations were taken into consideration by our Parliament. Ukrainian society is also interested in a comprehensive electoral reform.
The temporary change of voting location without changing election address cannot be used for the election rigging, as alleged by Russian representative. Internally displaced persons and migrant workers have the right to vote by proportional part of the election system. Thus, party lists and their votes cannot be used in single-member districts.
What happened in Crimea on 16 May 2014 cannot be called a referendum, or even be compared to a referendum that took place on 18 September in Scotland. Firstly, because regular army of the Russian Federation was acting. Secondly, because freedom of speech and access to information were limited. Thirdly, because pressure on the voters is another proof that there was no free voting process. Annexation of Crimea violates the Helsinki Final Act 1975 (II) on inadmissibility of forcible change of state borders in Europe.
As a respond to concerns stated by representatives of the RF regarding the legitimacy of election process, I would like to state that the best solutions for securing free voting are obvious: to stop regular firing from territory of the RF; to withdraw regular army of the RF from Ukrainian territory; to stop arming terroristic organizations in Donetsk and Luhansk.