Soares and Kanerva arrive in Kyiv to lead OSCE short-term election observers

KYIV, 23 May 2014 – Joao Soares (MP, Portugal), the Special Co-ordinator of the OSCE's short-term observation mission for Ukraine's presidential election, has arrived in Kyiv alongside fellow parliamentarians ahead of the 25 May vote.

Soares, a former President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, was designated by OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Didier Burkhalter in March to lead the more than 1,000 observers from the OSCE PA and the OSCE/ODIHR for the Ukrainian election.

Upon his arrival, he appointed OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Vice-President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) as Deputy Co-ordinator of the mission and Head of the OSCE PA's delegation of observers.

Kanerva, who has also arrived in the Ukrainian capital, will oversee the activity of more than 110 OSCE parliamentary observers from nearly 30 countries in Europe, Eurasia and North America.

"Vice-President Kanerva has participated in several of our pre-election visits to Ukraine and has closely monitored the fast-moving developments in this country. He is acutely aware of the importance of this election for the citizens and for the future of Ukraine, and I am confident that he will lead the OSCE PA's observers well," Soares said.

Kanerva, who also serves as Head of the Finnish Delegation to the OSCE PA, has previously served as his country's foreign minister and as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office during 2008.

He participated in the first OSCE PA pre-election visit to Kyiv in March as well as the PA's visit to eastern Ukraine in April.

OSCE parliamentary observers will be briefed ahead of election day by presidential candidates and candidate representatives; representatives of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine; representatives of the media and civil society; specialists from the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission; and heads of other parliamentary delegations in Ukraine.

The observers will disperse across the country on election day, monitoring voting procedures.

They will work closely with colleagues from the OSCE/ODIHR and will co-ordinate with observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Soares will deliver the international observers' statement of preliminary findings at a press conference on Monday, 26 May in Kyiv.

This is a press release issued by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The views expressed in this press release do not necessarily reflect those of the OSCE Chairmanship, nor of all OSCE participating States.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is comprised of 323 parliamentarians from 56 countries spanning, Europe, Central Asia and North America. The Assembly provides a forum for parliamentary diplomacy, monitors elections, and strengthens international cooperation to uphold commitments on political, security, economic, environmental and human rights issues.