UKRAINE TRIES TO ENSURE ELECTIONS' TRANSPARENCY, SAYS RUSHAILO

KIEV, October 26 (RIA Novosti) - CIS observers believe that Ukraine is trying to ensure the transparency of the election process, said Vladimir Rushailo, CIS Executive Secretary, who spoke at a roundtable in Kiev devoted to international observers' work at Ukraine's presidential elections.

The CIS observers' mission began work on August 13, he said. It is for the first time that a CIS mission started work two months before elections, he added. "It was due to the importance of the processes ongoing in Ukraine," Mr. Rushailo pointed out.

According to him, a headquarters with divisions in Simferopol, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk and Lvov were set up to coordinate activities of CIS observers.

A total of 635 CIS observers are expected to monitor the elections. Most observers will arrive in Ukraine on October 28-29.

They will receive all necessary materials, including the results of the preliminary monitoring, Mr. Rushailo said.

"They have practical experience of monitoring, most of them are professionally trained to hold elections: 80 percent of the CIS observers work in election commissions of different levels, state executive bodies and are deputies of parliaments," he said.

The big number of observers from the CIS are involved due to the need to monitor Ukraine's all 225 constituencies, he added.