Chairman of the British Ukraine All-Party Parliamentary Group John Whittingdale has said he believes that the parliamentary elections in Ukraine were not ideal, but the fact that new political parties won seats in the Ukrainian parliament is a sign of a democratic election campaign.
“The British MP, who was personally involved in monitoring the elections in Ukraine, noted that many aspects of the electoral process in Ukraine were similar to what is done in the United Kingdom,” the Ukrainian Embassy in Britain said in a statement obtained by Interfax- Ukraine.
The embassy reported that on November 6, the British Parliament held a roundtable meeting entitled “Europe and Parliamentary Elections in Ukraine in 2012,” which was attended by representatives of the UK parliament, experts, Ukrainian Ambassador to Britain Volodymyr Khandohiy and Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Affairs Leonid Kozhara.
During the discussion, the ambassador said that all of the conditions had been created in Ukraine for the successful holding of elections in line with European democratic standards. He said that the election results were creating favorable prerequisites for the continuation of a constructive dialog between Ukraine and EU, including on speeding up the signing of the association agreement.
“Other event participants paid special attention to the fact that the flaws detected during the campaign, as well as the imprisonment of [former Ukrainian Prime Minister] Yulia Tymoshenko, did not significantly influence the overall results of the expression of the will of Ukrainian citizens,” reads the statement.
