NDI election report: immediate and concerted action needed

The National Democratic Institute released a pre-election statement authored by a delegation monitoring the political environment in the runup to the October 28 parliamentary vote in Ukraine, citing a number of areas where “immediate and concerted measures are needed” to address shortcomings. Among the concerns of the mission were Ukraine’s legal framework, election commissions, the voter registry, intimidation of voters, abuse of administrative resources, procedures for complaints and adjudication, the media and campaign environments and election observation.

Brad Wells: This is the second report from an independent Western election monitoring organization to cite substantial shortcomings ahead, following the European Network of Election Monitoring’s (ENEMO) assessment last week. We doubt the Ukrainian government has the political will, or even interest, to take corrective action at this point. Unfortunately, these reports in tandem only further add to the negative expectations for the election, which have already been running high due to the government’s campaign of political legal prosecutions against opposition politicians. An unfree and unfair parliamentary election would become a major stumbling block for years to come between Ukraine and its partners in the EU and US, and will scuttle Ukraine’s hopes of progress on its European agenda (including a long-awaited Association Agreement and the embedded Deep & Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement).