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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Ukraine

12th March 2012

Ukraine’s 2012 elections: OSCE/ODIHR observers

Photo by news.elise.com.ua

The atmosphere in the press conference is electric.  TV and video crews cram the aisles.  Finally, the OSCE/ODIHR mission announce that, in their view, the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election has met most OSCE and Council of Europe commitments.  Leaders of the mission talk of “an impressive display of democratic elections” and “a well-administered and truly competitive election offering voters a clear choice”.  Soon after, congratulations start rolling in from international leaders.  Ukraine’s international standing is strengthened.

Around the time of the 2010 presidential elections in Ukraine I wrote several blogs (see eg here and here) about how the conduct of those elections would have the best chance of being recognised by the international community. The importance of a good OSCE/ODIHR observer mission was central to that case.

It is good that the Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly said that the October 2012 parliamentary elections will be free and fair.  It is also welcome that the authorities have said they will invite OSCE/ODIHR to send observers to scrutinise those elections.  One “quick win” for Ukraine to help demonstrate its commitment to democracy would be to ensure that a formal invitation letter to OSCE/ODIHR is issued as soon as possible.  The more time observers have in country, the more authoritative their report can be.  On a more basic level, ODIHR needs time to prepare, eg by making a “needs assessment visit”, probably before the summer.

Ukraine’s hard-won reputation as one of the most democratic countries in the former Soviet Union has long been one of this nation’s most important and attractive features.  It is the nature of all reputations that they are hard to gain and easy to lose.  Many factors will determine how the international community assesses the quality of the October 2012 elections, including whether all opposition leaders are able to take part in them.  But to issue an early invitation to OSCE/ODIHR would be a valuable first step.

3 comments on “Ukraine’s 2012 elections: OSCE/ODIHR observers

  1. Dear Mr. Leigh Turner,

    thank you for such kind words in your last paragraph. Many ordinary people struggle with bureaucracy here and sometimes they do that without any hope. They take risk and jump into unknown future. They are true building blocks of transparency and justice, for struggling for their right they are struggling for everyone who could walk in their shoes in other time. It would be impossible without awareness that the world is much more wider. ‘We have the same biology, regardless ideology’.

    Kind regards.

    1. Dear Mr. Leigh Turner, thank you for such kind words in your last paragraph. Many orandiry people struggle with bureaucracy here and sometimes they do that without any hope. They take risk and jump into unknown future. They are true building blocks of transparency and justice, for struggling for their right they are struggling for everyone who could walk in their shoes in other time. It would be impossible without awareness that the world is much more wider. We have the same biology, regardless ideology’. Kind regards.

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About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.