KIEV, May 26 (RIA Novosti) – The Ukrainian World Congress said Monday the presidential election in Ukraine was in line with international standards, while noting a number of violations during the vote, the head of the UWC international observer mission said Monday.
Observers registered violations across Ukraine, including agitation at ballot stations, delayed opening of polling places and the absence of voters on election lists. The work of journalists and observers was also prevented during the vote, Bohdan Futey said.
Futey added, however, the violations were “isolated incidents and not systemic in nature and didn’t affect the overall outcome of the election.”
Ukraine’s Committee of Voters earlier criticized the organization of the elections, while saying that the vote was “in line with the international standards of free democratic elections without significant systematic violations of the election law of Ukraine.”
The head of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Oleksandr Chernenko, said the problems were “technical,” adding that as the election had been organized for a short period, voters were lining up even after the voting stations were closed.
He said amid the difficult situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, authorities failed to organize the election at all polling places.
Among the violations, Chernenko noted delays in vote counting, and technical problems in the operation of the elections information-analytical system of the Central Election Commission.
The early presidential vote came amid a large-scale military operation launched by the new Kiev authorities to crack down on protesters refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the government.
Twenty-one candidates ran in the race. Billionaire Petro Poroshenko leads in the race, with over 50 percent of the vote after most ballots had been counted.
