Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has made a statement concerning inadmissibility of ignoring the illegitimate voting on the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol in the final report of the OSCE/ODIHR on Election Observation Mission in the Russian Federation State Duma elections.
The Parliament has addressed OSCE participating States in its statement, supported by 239 MPs on 23 February.
Civil Network OPORA co-drafted and discussed the VRU Statement in the corresponding Committee, and welcomes the principled stand of Ukrainian Parliament concerning adherence to election observation standards in election process. The organization calls on OSCE/ODIHR to take into consideration the opinion of Ukrainian Parliament and initiate a regular dialog regarding adherence to the impartiality and objectivity principles by international observation missions.
We would like to remind that State Duma elections were held in the Russian Federation last year, and 4 constituencies were formed on the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. Thus, State Duma elections were held on the territory of a foreign state, which does not belong to the sovereignty of the Russian Federation.
However, the Final Report of the OSCE/ODIHR EOM on 2016 Russian Federation State Duma elections does not provide any legal opinion on the influence of the voting in Crimea and Sevastopol on the election outcomes.
Besides that, the Report doesn't mention the fact that the AR Crimea and Sevastopol are Ukrainian territories occupied by the Russian Federation However, explanation for the impossibility to monitor elections in Crimea is the following: “there is no consensus among OSCE participating States concerning its status”. Agreement concerning such wording in the final report was publicly announced by members of the RF CEC right after the election day.
“We are convinced that such explanation is inadmissible, as long as the AR Crimea and Sevastopol belong to Ukrainian sovereign territory and shall not be discussed. We would like to remind that UN General Assembly Resolutions #68/262 and #71/205 recognize the AR Crimea and Sevastopol as Ukrainian territory, condemn an attempt of their annexation by the Russian Federation, and emphasize that there are no grounds to change their status,” – VRU Statement says.
As it was already mentioned in the Statement, the Report doesn't provide even basic analysis of the circumstances and problems, which emerged as a result of holding so-called voting on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.
“We believe that publication in the observation report on Russian Federation State Duma elections of the number of voters, polling stations and ballot papers including the illegally occupied territory of the AR Crimea and Sevastopol is inadmissible,” – is written in the Statement.
The Parliament is concerned that the aggressor state may use the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Report on 2016 Russian Federation State Duma elections for legitimization of its actions on Ukrainian territory. As a result, the main task of the OSCE, namely to eliminate violations and restore the observance of Helsinki Final Act – respecting sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders.
Thus, Verkhovna Rada called on the OSCE/ODIHR to promptly develop the standards to respond to and assess deviances from electoral standards related to aggressive actions of OSCE participating States on the territory of other OSCE participating States, and investigate the circumstances in which the Report on Election Observation Mission for the State Duma elections in the Russian Federation was prepared, in order to prevent any influence on international observers.
Besides that, the Parliament called on OSCE participating States to support its appeal to the OSCE/ODIHR concerning the development of a new methodology for report drafting covering assessment of the situation involving occupation of Ukrainian territory by the Russian Federation.
According to Civil Network OPORA's analyst Oleksandr Kliuzhev, RF government have been consistently trying to make opinions of international observers depend on the position of government of a country holding elections. He believes that challenges faced by international election observation missions, which are rooted in the policy of the Russian Federation, need efficient guarantees for impartiality of OSCE/ODIHR observers and prevention of politically motivated compromises, related to the assessment of electoral process.