“The parliamentary elections that will soon take place in Ukraine present a unique opportunity to show that the country has embarked on a democratic path,” said Liubomyr Kopaj, head of the OSCE mission of observers, at his first news conference in Kyiv last week. He announced that nearly 1,000 experts will be observing the electoral process on the day of the elections and jokingly referred to them as “an entire army.” Their main goal will be to analyze the electoral process to determine the extent to which it corresponds to international standards and Ukrainian legislation. He pointed out that the last presidential elections in Ukraine involved major violations, which explain why Kyiv will come under strict scrutiny: to determine what has changed since the last elections.
Most experts agree that the electoral process in Ukraine will be a true indicator of change in the country. The international community, and especially the organizations to which Ukraine aspires, the EU and NATO, believe that the country’s future successes in the international arena directly depend on the state of its democracy. OSCE mission head Ljubomir Kopaj gives the impression of being a man with a very favorable attitude toward Ukraine. “Our expectations are positive. We will be very happy finally to report that Ukraine has made another big step toward conducting transparent, democratic elections,” he underscored. Kopaj is a diplomat neighboring Slovakia. During the last three years he observed the quality of “electoral procedures” in the post-Soviet space. He worked in this capacity in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan. The mission head says that he realizes the complexity of the upcoming elections: “We know that this campaign will be especially tough. It is a very good thing that the elections will take place on a competitive basis.” At the same time, Kopaj has not ruled out “unpleasant moments” during the campaign, but says that he is “not ready to say which one will be the most unpleasant.”
The OSCE mission plans to issue three intermediary reports on the progress of the election campaign, the first of which can be expected in two or three weeks. Observers will present their preliminary evaluations ten days after the elections and the final version of their report to the Ukrainian government two and a half months after the elections, most likely in May. Kopaj declined to characterize the events of the election campaign, explaining that he started working in Kyiv early last week. The mission’s representatives will work in every Ukrainian oblast, and one of their tasks is to make an in-depth analysis of the situation. For this reason, observers (only 60 who have “long-term” observer status) will hold numerous meetings with representatives of the government, prosecutorial offices, courts, the mass media, and nongovernmental organizations. “We are foreigners, and without the knowledge and experience of Ukrainians we will not be able to obtain complete information on the situation in the country,” the OSCE mission head said.
The Slovakian diplomat also mentioned several questions that he will be asking during his meetings with Ukrainians: Have those responsible for violations during the last presidential elections been punished? How do the immediate participants of the electoral process feel about President Viktor Yushchenko’s idea to sign a memorandum on fair elections? “We will treat every party leader equally as a possible winner. We are interested in the process of conducting elections and not in their outcome. The citizens themselves have to decide the outcome.”
