OSCE PA President Joao Soares delivers the post-election statement on behalf of the OSCE in Kyiv. KYIV, 18 January 2010 – The first round of Ukraine’s presidential election was of high quality and showed significant progress over previous elections, meeting most OSCE and Council of Europe commitments, concluded the international election observation mission in a statement published today. The observers noted that the election demonstrated

KYIV POST 18 January 2010 OSCE observers have said that the election laws of Ukraine must be improved and brought in line with the international norms and standards, Heidi Tagliavini, the head of the election observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, has said. "We would like to note that although some laws were adopted [in Ukraine's election legislation] nevertheless we insist that the legislative

KYIV, 15 January 2010 -- The International Election Observation Mission for the presidential election in Ukraine will present its preliminary post-election statement at a news conference on Monday, 18 January, in Kyiv. The mission is a joint undertaking of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the European

COPENHAGEN, 13 January 2010 – In a final week of preparation for the observation mission to the 17 January presidential election in Ukraine, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Joao Soares led a delegation to several regions of Ukraine. The delegation included the Deputy Heads of Mission that Mr. Soares has appointed for the regions: Francois-Xavier DeDonnea in Odesa and Tone Tingsgaard in Donetsk. In both Odesa on 11 January and Donetsk on

COPENHAGEN, 8 January 2010 – In a final week of preparation for the observation mission to the 17 January presidential election in Ukraine, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Joao Soares will visit several regions of Ukraine, starting Monday, 11 January. Mr. Soares is heading the largest observation delegation that the OSCE PA has ever sent to observe an election, with a total of 133 parliamentarians and staff from 32 countries. He has also

KYIV, 6 January 2010 – A total of 136 parliamentarians and staff from 32 OSCE countries are scheduled to participate in the OSCE election observation mission to Ukraine, comprising the PA and ODIHR, for the 17 January presidential election. A second round of the presidential election will be held on 7 February, in case no candidate receives over 50 per cent of the votes in the first round. On Sunday, 10 January, OSCE PA President Joao Soares