UCCA and UCC seek volunteers to serve as election monitors (12/12/04)

UCCA and UCC seek volunteers to serve as election monitors

by Andrew Nynka

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - With the date of a third round of voting for the Ukrainian presidency likely set at December 26, two Ukrainian organizations are again asking for and sending international election observers to monitor the runoff vote.

The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America will again send election observers to monitor the vote throughout Ukraine. Further information on registering through UCCA can be obtained by visiting the organization's website, specifically by going to http://ucca.org/events/obap.htm. A follow up e-mail should then be sent to [email protected] announcing that a registration form was filled out. There is no requirement that people must be Ukrainian in order to register with the UCCA.

Also, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress urged anyone over the age of 18 who is interested in monitoring the Ukrainian election and who is a resident of any country other than Ukraine to register with them.

The UCC noted that the key role of an international observer is to monitor the election process and record evidence of violations and falsifications, if any. Election observers should expect to arrive in Ukraine about one week before the election and stay for three days after the election.

Training sessions are planned for observers before the election, and observers were urged to bring with them a video camera, digital photo camera, flashlight and a mobile phone that will work in Europe.

Monitors can expect to primarily be posted to the oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Kirovohrad, Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk, as well as Crimea.

Canadians can register as international observers by completing the forms found on the website of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee, www.ucc.ca. The forms should then be sent by fax or e-mail to Ostap Skrypnyk, executive director, Ukrainian Canadian Congress; fax, (204) 947-3882; e-mail, [email protected].

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