Several dozen newly elected deputies In the region are children of parliamentarians or high-ranking public officials. All maintain that they achieved this alone.

The Venice Commission hopes that the Constitutional Court will in the near future consider the application by the Central Election Commission regarding the term of office of this session of the Verkhovna Rada

After much lobbying and deliberate delays, the resolution is ready for voting. As can be seen, it makes fairly hard-hitting statements regarding concerns over the elections, the role of the Security Services, freedom of speech and others.

Civic and political activists are protesting over violations at the local elections and demanding either a recount of the votes or new elections for Mayor

Just hours after the Constitutional Court gave a stamp of approval to constitutional amendments on the dates of the next presidential and parliamentary elections, 305 deputies voted the draft law through its first reading

The report states that before Election Day one could observe a number of failings which had a direct effect on the running of the elections and their outcome and which caused concern over the process of voting.

On Tuesday around 5 thousand people gathered on Freedom Square in Kharkiv, demanding a recount of the votes in the Mayoral elections. They allege serious irregularities both during the voting and with the vote count

A government which conceals information about its expenditure and activities; which doctors laws and uses enforcement and regulatory bodies, the courts, etc, to serve its own ends, will not balk at using similar methods against foreign investors.

On 9 November a protest is planned in Kharkiv against the supposed results of the 31 October Mayoral elections. Both KHPG and the Committee of Voters of Ukraine believe a rerun, or at least recount to be needed

Andriy Mahera, Deputy Head of the Central Election Commission believes the main reason for what were probably the worst elections since 2004 lay in the flawed law on the local elections

In view of the considerable number of electoral infringements, the Kharkiv Human Rights Group believes it expedient to hold a rerun of the Kharkiv Mayor Election

The civic organizations which monitored Sunday’s elections have given their overall – and very negative - assessment. They say the elections cannot be considered honest, transparent and democratic and demonstrate a step backwards for the regime

The US and the European Union have criticised the conduct of Ukraine’s local elections, with Washington saying polls held at the weekend “did not meet standards for openness and fairness”.

Statement from the office of Europe’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton

Alexei Svyetikov from the Committee of Voters of Ukraine explains how the mixed system this year led to those candidates from the Party of the Regions receiving all majority system mandates in Severodonetsk and some other city councils

The Head of the Committee for Open Democracy, Tom Nolan stated at a press conference on Tuesday that there had been obvious rigging at the elections in Odessa and that these had not complied with international norms

Members of a Council of Europe monitoring delegation have expressed concern at a "hastily drafted" electoral law for local and regional elections passed by the Ukrainian Parliament

The civic network OPORA has published its Interim Report on the October 31 Local Elections. It is considerably more damning than the report from the Committee of Voters of Ukraine and than the fairly cautious remarks made by European observers.

Observers say the elections on the whole passed without significant violations which could seriously affect the outcome, but note that as a result of the hasty adoption of a new electoral law, there were infringements of democratic norms

According to the Head of the Odessa Regional Branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, the 31 October Local Elections in Odessa were reminiscent of the 2004 Elections and were a step backwards in Ukraine’s development