European Observers Evaluate Ukraine's Local Authority Elections

KIEV, Ukraine, November 1, 2010 - Ukraine's local authority elections, which took place on
October 31, 2010, were monitored by more than two thousand international and
national observers. Today many of them give their evaluations of the fairness
and transparency of the voting procedure.

Pavlo Koval, the Head of the group of official observers of
the European Parliament: "I didn't see any violations. Meanwhile what I heard
from other observers is that there were a number of, I want to stress, minor
violations. These violations are unlikely to impact the results of the
voting".

Katarina Prokova, Czech Social-Democratic Party: "Generally,
we have positive impression. We are glad that Ukrainians have taken advantage
of their right to free and democratic choice."

Anton Kutev, Bulgarian National Assembly: "The elections have
passed normally. Everything was quiet, the representatives of different
parties were present."

Jan Carnogursky, CIS-EMO, Former Prime Minister of Slovakia:
"There is a lot of negative information spread around the local authority
elections in Ukraine. Many talk about violations and the breach of law,
however, none of the parties whom I met with expressed their dissatisfaction
with how the voting process went."

While the government and many international observers believe
the voting procedure was fair and transparent, the representatives of the
opposition claim there were a number of violations in some regions and plan
to challenge the voting results in Lviv and Kyiv Oblasts (regions) and in
Ternopil city as well as to demand a re-vote in the mentioned constituencies.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister Mykola Azarov welcomed the
opposition's intention to challenge the elections' results in some regions.
He noted that the opposition parties have to enjoy their right to refer to
the court which will eventually enhance the democratic process in Ukraine.

For more information, please contact Natalya Shulevskaya +380633776645 news at wnu-ukraine.com, Project Manager at Worldwide News Ukraine