MP Wrzesnewskyj secures observers for second round (10/31/04)

MP Wrzesnewskyj secures observers for second round

TORONTO - In August, while in Kyiv, Borys Wrzesnewskyj, member of Parliament for Etobicoke Center spoke with the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring project in Ukraine on the need for election observers for the second round of the presidential elections in Ukraine. At that time, observers had not been planned for the second round.

Since then, Mr. Wrzesnewskyj has had a series of discussions and meetings with Aileen Carroll, the federal minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), to discuss the importance of OSCE election observers in ensuring a fair and transparent election process during the second round of voting on November 21. On October 22 Mr. Wrzesnewskyj informed the Ukrainian Canadian community that CIDA has announced that it will be sending election observers for the second round of presidential elections in Ukraine.

"Since Ukraine's independence, Canada has been active in supporting democratic reform in Ukraine." Mr. Wrzesnewskyj said upon learning of the news. "The attempted poisoning of the front-runner in the election, Viktor Yushchenko and the political situation in Ukraine today underline the need for countries like Canada to offer assistance to support fair and transparent elections in Ukraine. In openly expressing its concern about the direction of the election campaign in Ukraine and now by sending additional election observers, Canada has reaffirmed its commitment to the democratization of Ukraine's political system.

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