Coalition for honest and transparent elections formed

On 17 July 2009, six months before the Presidential elections, representatives of a number of civic organizations joined forces to ensure that these elections are fair and transparent.

The new Coalition is made up of the Democratic Initiatives Foundation; the Legislative Initiatives Laboratory; the Ukrainian Press Academy; the Committee of Voters of Ukraine and the Equal Opportunities Committee.

A Declaration was passed which stresses the importance of the elections in January 2010 since these will determine whether the country follows a path of democratic development or ends in “managed democracy”, leading to stagnation and restriction of rights and liberties.

The Coalition members anticipate that the election campaign will be tainted by populism, the use of manipulative technologies for which the media will be widely used, fictitious sociological data, dirty campaign, a fight between particular individuals and not programmes, as well as direct bribing of voters.

In order to ensure that the campaign is honest and open and that people can make an informed and responsible choice, the Coalition will concentrate on the following: educating voters about electoral legislation and their electoral rights; analysis of electoral manifestos; monitoring; objective reporting of public opinion; ensuring equal opportunities and unbiased coverage of the elections in the press; encouraging people to take an active part in the elections; observing the course of the campaign and the results of the voting; uncovering fraudulent methods of running the campaign; and holding exit polls.

The coalition is totally apolitical and unaligned. It is open and invites other civic organizations and concerned individuals to join them.

From a press release at http://dif.org.ua/ua/press/ygygygyu