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Press Release: Public Affairs Section
U.S. EMBASSY, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 22, 2004
KYIV - The U.S is deeply concerned about the conduct of the election in
Mukacheve. By all accounts, there was manifestly fraudulent manipulation
of the voting results.
There were highly credible reports -- including by the OSCE's Office of
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights -- of widespread and serious
irregularities in the voting and counting process, as well as numerous
instances of violence and intimidation of voters and observers.
We do not believe the results reported by the Territorial Election
Commission accurately reflect the will of the voters of Mukacheve.
We have seen a very discouraging pattern of irregularities and fraud in
recent local and parliamentary elections in Ukraine. We hope that such
problems will not characterize the presidential election later this year.
We welcome the news that President Kuchma has ordered a full investigation
of the Mukacheve election and urge the authorities to take the necessary
steps to ensure that the will of the voters is not overturned by gross
electoral violations.
A failure to address this issue in full would only embolden those in Ukraine
who are determined to thwart the conduct of free and fair elections.
http://usembassy.kiev.ua/infocentral_eng.html
Public Affairs Section, United States Embassy Kyiv
4 Hlybochytska St., Kyiv 04050 Ukraine
(380 44) 490-4026, 490-4090, Fax (380 44) 490-4050
http://usembassy.kiev.ua, info@usembassy.kiev.ua
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