OSCE declares Ukraine presidential election legitimate

  • 10 years ago
The election of confectionery magnate Petro Poroshenko as president of Ukraine has been declared fair by international observers.

The 48-year-old emerged a comfortable winner from Sunday’s poll.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the hostile activity by armed groups in the east had not undermined the election’s legitimacy.

Joao Soares who is the OSCE special coordinator said: “ In Donetsk city not one polling station opened and that’s a big problem! What we said that it didn’t undermine the legitimacy of these elections because turnout was much bigger then when elections took place on the same day for our European Parliament.”

With the turnout put at over 60% and even Moscow expressing a willingness to work with the victor, Kyiv’s newly elected mayor Vitaliy Klitschko now says he will ask the pro-Europe protesters in the capital’s Independence square to clear up their camp.

Our reporter Maria Korenyuk in Kyiv explained what will happen in the next few weeks:

“Official results of the presidential election will be announced by June 1 and in the next 30 days a swearing-in ceremony will be held in Kyiv. Right after that Petro Poroshenko will visit Donbass to fulfil his campaign pledge to re-establish control in the east.”

Recommended