Ukraine vote democratic, say observers

KIEV, Monday

Ukraine’s presidential election “largely upheld democratic commitments” and provided the new leader with the legitimacy needed to tackle the country’s separatist insurgency, international observers said Monday.

“The electoral and security authorities of Ukraine should be commended for their efforts — under extraordinary circumstances — to facilitate an election that largely upheld democratic commitments,” the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) short-term mission coordinator Joao Soares said.

Sunday’s vote “provides the new president of Ukraine with the legitimacy to establish immediately an inclusive dialogue with all citizens in the eastern regions, to restore their trust and confidence, and to decentralise state power in order to preserve the unity of the country by respecting the diversity of Ukrainian society,” said Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) mission head Andreas Gross.

FORMIDABLE TASK

Meanwhile, billionaire oligarch Petro Poroshenko faces a formidable task to end the crisis which has brought Ukraine to the brink of collapse as he prepared today to be formally declared the country’s president.

The pro-Western confectionary tycoon trounced his rivals and won close to 54 per cent in Sunday’s vote, results published from over half the constituencies so far showed.

But just hours after his apparent victory, there was a sharp reminder of the huge challenges ahead for Poroshenko as armed separatists who refuse to recognise Kiev’s legitimacy forced the closure of the main airport in the rebel-held eastern city of Donetsk on Monday.

An AFP correspondent saw truckloads of armed men in camouflage gear head to towards the airport and a spokesman for the facility said it now appeared to be under rebel control.

Poroshenko, a 48-year-old former cabinet minister, had said Sunday he would work immediately to end a bloody pro-Russian insurgency that prevented voting across swathes of the industrial east and to fix an recession-hit near bankrupt economy.

STRONG TURNOUT

“My first decisive step will be aimed at ending the war, ending chaos, and bringing peace to a united and free Ukraine,” he said after polls closed in a vote billed as the most important since Ukraine’s independence in 1991.

“I am certain that our decisive actions will bring fairly quick results,” he said.

The latest results put Poroshenko far ahead of his nearest rival, the divisive former prime minister and Orange Revolution leader Yulia Tymoshenko with 13 per cent.

It also means he should avoid the need for a June 15 runoff that would have extended political uncertainty and put more pressure on East-West relations that are already at a post-Cold War low. Final results are expected on Monday.

However, while turnout was strong across the capital Kiev and the more pro-European west on Sunday, voting was largely blocked in two eastern regions that make up 15 per cent of the electorate — raising concerns about the legitimacy of Poroshenko’s mandate across the entire country and in Moscow.

The election commission said voting had been suspended by militants in 24 of Ukraine’s 213 constituencies.

US PRAISES VOTE

But US President Barack Obama praised Ukrainians for showing courage by voting in the face of the threat posed by militants who have seized about a dozen cities and towns in a seven-week rebellion.

“Despite provocations and violence, millions of Ukrainians went to the polls throughout the country, and even in parts of eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatist groups sought to disenfranchise entire regions, some courageous Ukrainians still were able to cast their ballots,” the White House quoted Obama as saying.

Germany said it hoped Moscow would respect the result of the vote.

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued no immediate comment and instead spent Sunday evening in Belarus watching his country compete in the final of the ice hockey world championship.

He had rejected the authority of Kiev’s Western-backed interim leaders and had only promised to “respect” the outcome of Sunday’s vote.
Poroshenko vowed to pay his first trip to the east where insurgents have proclaimed their own independent republics in a rebellion that has already cost scores of lives.
Former pro-Russian presidential candidate Oleh Tsarov said he would not consider Poroshenko to be the legitimate leader.

“We consider that the winner of the election is president of west Ukraine — he is a half president.”

'LONG LIST OF PROBLEMS'

The ballot was called after Kremlin-allied president Viktor Yanukovych — his corruption-stained regime long a source of discontent — was ousted in February in the bloody climax of months of protests sparked by his rejection of a historic EU pact.

Poroshenko said Ukraine had a “long list of problems” to discuss with Russia through negotiations that should also involve Washington and the European Union.

He also promised to hire a consultant who could help him sell his vast business assets to avoid any possible conflict of interest or corruption allegations.

The ex-Soviet nation on the EU’s doorstep is fighting for its very survival after Putin responded to the popular overthrow of Yanukovych by seizing Crimea and threatening to invade the rest of Ukraine to “protect” the country’s ethnic Russian community.

Putin appeared to make a major concession in the face of more punishing economic sanctions by promising to work with the new Kiev team.

“We understand that the people of Ukraine want their country to emerge from this crisis. We will treat their choice with respect,” he said Friday.

Russia also said it had started withdrawing from Ukraine’s border around 40,000 soldiers whose presence had raised deep Western suspicions and prompted NATO to send additional fighters to former Soviet satellite states.

ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING

“Even Putin will find it difficult to label such a clear result illegitimate,” said Berenberg Bank economist Holger Schmieding.

The new leader will also have to set into motion overdue economic restructuring measures that world lenders are demanding in return for $27 billion (20 billion euros) in aid to stave off bankruptcy.

Russia had refused to recognise the legitimacy of Ukraine’s interim pro-Western leaders and President Vladimir Putin had on Friday only promised to “respect” the outcome of the presidential vote.

On Monday Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin, which has been threatened with a new round of Western sanctions if it meddled further in Ukraine after its seizure of Crimea in March, was willing to work with the new leaders.

Sunday’s election was not held in parts of the separatist east where pro-Russian insurgents control a dozen towns and cities and where about 15 per cent of the electorate lives.

The observers’ mission acknowledged the high turnout — put at more than 60 per cent by the central election commission in regions under the government’s control — despite repeated attempts by militants to intimidate voters and organisers.

DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT

“Forced evictions and closures of district election commissions by armed groups, abductions, death threats, forced entry into private homes and the seizure of equipment and election materials were attempts to prevent the election and to deny citizens their right to vote,” the OSCE and PACE said in a joint report, commissioned by the Council of Europe and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA).

The teams had about 1,000 observers stationed throughout all regions of Ukraine except for Crimea, where no presidential voting took place.

The report concluded that the election and its campaign were conducted in a democratic spirit without abuse by the acting authorities, as in previous votes.

But it noted that media freedoms were severely undermined in regions of eastern Ukraine, where reporters often faced harassment and threats.

“Before Sunday, everyone agreed that this was going to be an important, if difficult, election, but few believed it would be successful,” said NATO PA delegation chief Karl Lamers.

“Our assessment is clear: the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian people have made this election a success.”