Peter Tejler: There were violations during elections, but they do not discredit will expression

The ODIHR Mission observers had recorded violations during the March 31st presidential elections in Ukraine, but all of them do not contest the outcome of will expression.

This was stated by Ambassador, Head of the ODIHR Election Observation Mission Mr. Peter Tejler during the 12th Kyiv Security Forum, organized by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation.

“On a generally positive basis, we have witnessed that there were certain violations of the rules for holding of such elections... All of these violations do not have power or being of sufficient scope to contest the elections' integrity,” he said.

According to him, the preliminary report of the Mission has determined the first round of elections, as such that “was held on a competitive basis, even with a high voter turnout”.

Speaking about presidential candidates, the Ambassador Tejler had noted that not all of them were actively campaigning.

“The current president was also a presidential candidate. We have also seen that particular candidates had conducted their campaigns at schools and public institutions. We call this abuse of administrative resources,” Mr. Tejler said.

However, according to the Head of the ODIHR Mission, in many aspects, everything had complied with the law.

FOR INFORMATION:
The Kyiv Security Forum was established by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation in 2007. A forum is an annual event that acts as a platform for high-level discussion on relevant matters of national security as well as security in the Black Sea region, Europe and the world.