DOCUMENT A/1887

1 December 2004

The situation in Ukraine

RESOLUTION 125¹

tabled on behalf of the Political Committee
by Mr Goris (Belgium, Liberal Group), Rapporteur

(i) Concerned about the situation in Ukraine following the presidential run-off election held on 21 November 2004;

(ii) Stressing that Ukraine is a strategically important country in Europe;

(iii) Noting that according to the International Election Observation Mission (IEOM), international standards for democratic elections were not met in either round of the presidential election and that particularly in the second round "the state executive authorities and the Central Election Commission displayed a lack of will to conduct a genuine democratic election process";

(iv) Considering that there are reasons for serious doubts as to whether the official results fully reflect the will of the Ukrainian electorate;

(v) Considering also that the present dispute over the presidential election and its result can only be solved by peaceful means;

(vi) Noting that it is in the interest of the cohesion of Ukraine and of its further development to maintain balanced relations with each of its neighbours including both the European Union and Russia,

1. Urgently calls on the Ukrainian authorities to review, together with the OSCE/ODIHR, electoral law and the election process;
2. Urges all the parties involved to continue to abstain from the use of force and not to incite provocation;
3. Urgently requests all the parties involved to do everything in their power to redress the consequences of the alleged irregularities which took place in the presidential election;
4. Urges the Ukrainian political authorities to prevent any partition of Ukraine;
5. Supports the efforts being made by the international community and in particular by Javier Solana, the WEU Secretary-General and EU High Representative for the CFSP, to convince the different parties in Ukraine that a compromise should be reached with a view to the government considering which reforms are needed to maintain Ukraine as a viable and democratic country.

¹ Adopted unanimously by the Committee on 30 November 2004 and by the Assembly on 1 December 2004 at the 9^th sitting of the plenary session.