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PACE delegation to visit Ukraine October 7-8 on pre-election mission

STRASBOURG, October 2. /TASS/. The PACE Election Monitoring Mission will arrive in Kiev on October 7 in the pre-election period to assess preparations for early parliamentary elections scheduled for October 26, the PACE press service said on Thursday.

The delegation includes seven people: one representative from the five major political groups of the Assembly and two PACE co-rapporteurs for Ukraine — Marietta de Poubbaix-Lundin of Sweden and Mailis Reps of Estonia. The monitoring group will be led by MP Christopher Chope (United Kingdom), the press service said.

The delegation intends to meet with the Ukrainian president, the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) speaker, the foreign and interior ministers, leaders and members of major political parties, the chairman of the Central Election Commission, journalists and non-governmental organiяations. The visit will last till October 8.

Another group of PACE observers (42 people) will leave for Ukraine to monitor the elections. Russian parliamentarians cannot take part in monitoring procedures till the end of year after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed a resolution that silenced the Russian delegation and expelled its representatives from PACE governing bodies following Crimea’s accession to Russia.