Yatsenyuk, Barroso stress importance of "free" presidential election for Ukraine
BRUSSELS. May 13 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian government is doing all it can to ensure free and fair presidential elections in the country on May 25.
Such claims were made by the Ukrainian head of government, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso at a press conference held in Brussels on Tuesday after a meeting between the Ukrainian government and the EC, an Interfax correspondent said.
"We are doing all we can for these elections to be honest and transparent. We want to stabilize the situation in east Ukraine, the situation in south Ukraine is stable. We understand that there will be certain hotspots where it will be difficult to hold free and fair elections, the CEC (Central Election Commission) is doing everything to ensure the Ukrainians have access to a vote for a legitimate president of Ukraine," Yatsenyuk said.
The EU hopes these elections will be honest, free and up to international standards, Barroso said, for his part.
We support the organizing of the elections in this vein. They are critical for the future of Ukraine and for future stability in this part of Europe. We urge all parties not to undermine these elections. They will achieve nothing by doing so. Those who will try to do so must understand they will not gain from it, the EC president said.