KYIV, 29 May 2009 - The last of a series of training sessions organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine for some 2,400 officials involved in maintaining the voter registry ended today. 

The 51 training sessions, conducted all over the country in co-operation with the Central Election Commission (CEC), aimed to support the building and maintenance of an electronic voter database. The establishment of a state voter register is a longstanding recommendation of the OSCE.

"We provided the CEC with computer equipment to assist the establishment of the State Voter Register. These trainings sessions aimed to prepare the staff of bodies responsible for the registry's maintenance for their tasks," said Lubomir Kopaj, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine.

As a next step, the Project Co-ordinator and the CEC will launch a nationwide awareness campaign that aims to encourage public interest, participation and confidence in the voter registry.

The three-week training courses and the awareness campaign form part of a project that aims to further strengthen Ukraine's election processes, implemented by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine with the support of the European Union, the Canadian International Development Agency, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Irish Aid and the Strategic Programme Fund of Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office.