Location: What's New
What's New

UCC International Election Observation Mission in full-swing

March 17, 2006 -- The Ukrainian Canadian Congress International Election Observation Mission, which will monitor the March 26, 2006 elections to the Ukrainian Parliament, has been launched and is now in full swing.

The UCC, which fielded large monitoring teams during the Ukrainian Presidential elections on 2004, culminating with a 500-person delegation in December of that year, is building on its experiences in the field of election monitoring. In December 2005, UCC mandated a committee chaired by Taras Pidzamecky of Toronto to prepare a mission team for deployment in Ukraine for the March 26 Parliamentary elections. A dedicated group of volunteers began work on all facets of the mission, including travel in Ukraine, accommodations, training and liaison with governmental and non-governmental agencies. After issuing a call for volunteers, 150 election observers were selected and, at their own cost, are now on their way to Ukraine.

Commenting before his departure for Ukraine, Paul Grod, UCC 1st Vice President and Head of Mission for the delegation, said “Ukraine’s democracy hinges on the right of the people of Ukraine to fairly and transparently elect their government without fraud, intimidation or manipulation. Our role as international election observers is to protect that right by providing objective observation and, with our presence, acting as a deterrent to those that wish to impede the development of a civil society in Ukraine.”

The UCC was registered with the Ukrainian Central Election Commission as an international non-governmental organization in February 2006. This status allows UCC observers to receive official accreditation from the CEC and to observe unhindered all activities relating to the voting up to and including the counting of the ballots.

Since early March, Chief Observer Marc Shwec has been in Kyiv preparing for the arrival of the observers, who will undergo intense training there before being deployed to various regions of Ukraine in preparation for the Election Day. An initial report from the team in Ukraine will be issued on March 27, 2006.

“All Canadians can take considerable pride and satisfaction from the fact that so many members of our community have taken it upon themselves to be in Ukraine next week to observe and monitor these very important parliamentary elections,” said UCC president Orysia Sushko.

“As Canadians we are blessed in our country to be able to vote in open and transparent elections, free of fraud or corruption. We seek no less for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine,” said Sushko.