Canadian Election Observers Deployed

January 13, 2010

Kyiv, Ukraine – The last team of Canadian election observers left Kyiv for the first round of the Ukraine presidential elections scheduled for this Sunday.

The observers underwent training prior to their deployment.

Electoral law experts and veteran election observers provided information about what to look for in the last four days before Election Day on Sunday. The finer points of electoral fraud and the vote counting process were explained to the observers. Attention was drawn to the loopholes and hastily-adopted provisions of presidential election law that make voting fraud possible.

Meanwhile, the observation mission’s Kyiv office, led by the Head of Mission Hania Szyptur, opened its doors not far from the Canadian embassy in Ukraine’s capital city. The Office and Logistics Manager Olya Grod is coordinating work in the six-person office. Lubomyr Markevych, the mission’s chief election observer has been busy his counterparts from other missions, including OSCE, ENEMO.

The mission plans to present its observation findings at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

Canada Ukraine Foundation, in association with Ukrainian Canadian Congress has over 100 election observers registered with the Central Election Commission of Ukraine. The observers from Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, British Columbia have volunteered their time and money to help make sure Ukraine’s presidential elections are as free and fair as possible in a highly-contested race

Chief Observer Lubomyr Markevych, Office and Logistics Manager Olya Grod and Mission Head Hania Szyptur at the mission’s Kyiv office on Jan. 13

Canadians undergoing election observation training in Kyiv on Jan. 12