Hundreds of foreign election observers, most of which are part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or OSCE, monitoring mission, are arriving in Ukraine to observe the country’s March 31 presidential election.
Other groups of observers are arriving from 16 different countries, with more than a dozen institutions sending monitors to keep an eye on Ukraine’s all-important Election Day.
A team of some 650 short-term OSCE observers has been organized by the Warsaw-based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, or ODIHR – a part of the OSCE that observes elections.
They are now joining a smaller team of international election observers who are already in Ukraine as part of the longer-term election monitoring mission, which has kept an eye on the run-up to the vote and will stay beyond the expected second round run-off on April 21.
Ukraine’s Central Election Commission says it has registered a total of 2,020 observers from 15 different international organizations and 16 foreign states.
Throughout the week, foreign election observers have been streaming through Kyiv’s Borispyl airport to be herded into waiting minibuses and taken to their accommodations. Many have traveled onwards to other cities and towns throughout Ukraine to take up their monitoring assignment.
According to the ODIHR, the short-term observers will work in pairs of individuals from different countries. The information and observations they gather will be sent to a longer-term assessment team based in Kyiv, which will compile a report on the election.
Short-term observers will monitor the efficiency of election administration and the vote’s implementation on Election Day, according to ODIHR experts.
In comparison, long-term observers have been paying closer attention to campaign finance oversight, media coverage of the campaign, possible voter intimidation, vote-buying, and the potential misuse of administrative resources.
“Welcoming our UK ODIHR election monitors to Ukraine,” said Judith Gough, British ambassador to Ukraine, in a March 27 tweet. “The UK has one of the largest… and most experienced monitoring contingents for this weekend’s presidential elections.”
“Proud to host Swedish observers… to Ukraine’s presidential elections,” tweeted Sweden’s ambassador Martin Hagstrom.
“We have never fielded such a big group of observers before, which is testament to Sweden’s unwavering support for Ukraine and the highest standard of international election observation,” Hagstrom added.
Alongside the ODIHR, two other organizations have played a key role in assembling the Ukrainian election monitoring mission: the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute. Both are bipartisan, Washington-based institutes that say they’re committed to advancing democracy worldwide.
International Republican Institute observers are being co-led by Cindy McCain, the widow of late U.S Senator John McCain, an American political heavyweight and staunch ally of Ukraine who died of brain cancer on Aug. 25, 2018.
“It is a great honor to have the chance to observe these momentous elections at such an important time in the history of Ukrainian democracy,” Cindy McCain said in a statement on March 28.
“I can think of no better way to honor my husband’s legacy than to demonstrate continued support for freedom in the country my husband cared for so deeply,” she added.
National Democratic Institute observers are being led, among others, by William Taylor, former U.S ambassador to Ukraine.
“We see that Ukrainian citizens remain committed to a democratic and European future. A peaceful, orderly electoral process that inspires public confidence will bring the country closer to those aspirations,” Taylor said to assembled election monitors in Kyiv on March 27.
