UCCA's new Kyiv Office key in leading pre-election efforts (04/28/02)

UCCA's new Kyiv Office key in leading pre-election efforts

KYIV - In preparation for the elections, the UCCA Kyiv Office on March 29 hosted an informational briefing at the Taras Shevchenko National Museum for their election monitors. According to the Central Election Commission, the UCCA's 46-member delegation was the largest non-governmental organization and the fourth largest team overall registered to monitor Ukraine's elections.

The seminar, which was divided into two sections, was dedicated to acquainting the election monitors with the various political parties and blocs vying for seats in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada and providing practical information on how best to serve as international election monitors.

The UCCA invited all 33 registered political parties and blocs to the briefing and asked them to outline their respective political platforms and to provide insight on the pre-election atmosphere. The seminar attracted leaders of parties and blocs from across the political spectrum including: the Party of Greens; Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, Reformed Communist Party, Socialist Party, Our Ukraine, Yabluko, Liberal Party, Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (United); ZUBR (For Ukraine, Belarus and Russia), For a United Ukraine, All-Ukrainian Christian Party and the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists.

The second half of the seminar concentrated on providing practical information about how best to serve as international election observers. During this portion of the briefing, UCCA election monitors were able to obtain first-hand knowledge and recommendations from several local non-governmental organizations that have experience in monitoring Ukraine's elections.

The informational seminar was conducted by the chairman of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU), Ihor Popov; the coordinator of the Freedom of Choice Coalition, Vladyslav Kaskiv; and representatives of the UCCA, including President Michael Sawkiw Jr. and Executive Director Tamara Gallo. All of the UCCA election monitors were provided with an informational packet to assist them in conducting their work as observers on March 31.

The UCCA monitors observed the elections in various oblasts of Ukraine, including, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Luhansk and Lviv. Additionally, several UCCA international election observers monitored elections in the United States at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, and at the New York and Chicago Consulates.

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