U.S. statement on presidential elections in Ukraine (11/21/99)

U.S. statement on presidential elections in Ukraine

Following is the text of the press statement on Ukraine's presidential election delivered on November 15 by James P. Rubin, U.S. Department of State spokesman.

On November 14, 75 percent of the Ukrainian electorate, some 28 million people, turned out to vote in the country's presidential election run-off. The United States congratulates the Ukrainian people on this expression of their commitment to democracy.

According to preliminary results from the Central Election Commission, incumbent President Leonid Kuchma won the election with over 56 percent of the vote. His challenger, Communist Party head Petro Symonenko, finished with roughly 38 percent of the vote. The U.S. government congratulates President Kuchma on his re-election, which is an important endorsement by the Ukrainian people of a policy direction of continued political and economic reform and Western integration. The United States remains committed to assisting Ukraine's transition to democracy and a market economy.

The OSCE's Office of Democratic Initiatives and Human Rights (ODIHR) election observation mission, with the endorsement of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), issued a preliminary assessment of the election November 15. The statement noted that instances of violations of election day procedures were more numerous and serious than in the first round but, as of November 15, were not reported to have been widespread or systematic. However, the statement criticized breaches of Ukraine's election law and of Ukraine's OSCE commitments citing, in particular, imbalanced media coverage and the coordinated and inappropriate involvement of government officials in both rounds of the election on behalf of the incumbent.

The U.S. government shares this assessment, and calls on Ukrainian authorities to address the problems identified in the statement in future elections. Continued progress on democracy is an essential first step towards advancing Ukraine's goal of deeper integration with Europe and Euro-Atlantic institutions.

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