Opposition rejects official election results

Ukraine’s three leading opposition parties rejected the election results announced this weekend by the Central Election Commission (CEC), according to their joint statement released Nov. 12. Both the single-mandate and closed party list results were fraudulent, the statement said. Opposition leaders insisted that the government recognize the victory of at least seven opposition single-mandate candidates, whom they claim lost the election owing to fraud. Had the results been correct, the three opposition parties would have more seats in parliament than the incumbent Party of Regions. Instead, the official results gave 185 seats to the incumbents and 178 seats to the opposition. The opposition parties also reserve the right to revoke their deputy mandates during the next session, as opposed to doing it now, the statement said. They will file a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights.

Zenon Zawada: Momentum is gaining for the EU leadership to declare as unacceptable the results of Ukraine’s parliamentary election, following condemnation from the Ukrainian opposition and Canadian government. We expect the EU will offer its condemnation in a subtle form that doesn’t derail the signing of the agreement creating a Ukraine-EU Free Trade Area (FTA).