KIEV, October 26. /TASS/. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has said the elections held in Ukraine conform to international standards in spite of pressure from big business and mass purchase of election advertising space in printed media and air time on TV and radio, head of the ODIHR mission Tana de Zulueta told a news conference.
She noted that the elections had been held in accordance with OSCE standards and international standards, describing them as competitive and well organized in general.
Tana de Zulueta added though that the complexity of the legal framework, the dominance of powerful economic group and the fact that practically all media campaigns to cover the elections had been well paid for pointed to the need to push ahead with reforms in the country.
On October 25, Ukraine held elections to the local authorities. However, the polling stations in Mariupol and Krasnoarmeysk never opened because of the problems with ballot papers. The election commission later declared invalid the elections in Svatovo, a town in the Luhansk region. Now Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, is to formalize the possibility of holding elections in these localities during the second round of voting.