KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th March, 2019) Kiev's refusal to grant access for Russian observers to monitor the upcoming presidential election calls into question the legitimacy of the entire electoral process and casts shadow on the recognition of the future voting results.
Kiev's decision has been condemned by many international organizations, including the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). However, experts told Sputnik in their comments that the West would still recognize the election as valid unless serious violations arise.
The presidential election will be held in Ukraine on March 31.
The upcoming presidential election will see an unprecedented number of candidates for Ukraine - 39. According to the poll conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology and published on Monday, comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy is projected to receive 32 percent of votes. Incumbent President Petro Poroshenko is expected to gain 17 percent of votes. He is followed by former Ukrainian Prime Minister and leader of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party Yulia Tymoshenko, who is projected to gain 12.5 percent of the vote.
At the beginning of the year, Moscow received an invitation from the OSCE to send its observers to the presidential election in Ukraine. The list of observers was formed and approved by the OSCE, it should have included two long-term and 24 short-term observers from Russia.
However, the Ukrainian parliament in February passed a law that banned Russian observers from monitoring the elections in Ukraine. It entered into force on February 28. In accordance with the newly-adopted law, Kiev refused to register Russian observers.
In addition, Poroshenko has instructed the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service to deny entry to observers from Russia. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, in turn, said that Russia "should not even dream" of sending its observers to Ukraine. According to him, "Martians have more chances to observe the Ukrainian election [than the Russians]."
Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir has said that Kiev's ban on the participation of Russian citizens in the election observation mission "was unacceptable" and contrary to the obligations of all member states of the OSCE.
"The decision to deny the possibility of accreditation to citizens of one participating state is without precedent and contravenes commitments made by all participating States to invite observers from any other OSCE participating States that may wish to observe election proceedings to the extent permitted by law," Gisladottir wrote in a letter to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also slammed Kiev's refusal to let in observers from Russia, who were accredited by the OSCE.
"The refusal of the Ukrainian authorities to give access to Russian observers who have already been endorsed by the OSCE is illegitimate. This has been already confirmed by OSCE leaders, including those from the ODIHR, which is in charge of monitoring the election," Lavrov stressed.
He, nevertheless, added that the electoral process in Ukraine would be assessed based on the election results, the minister noted.
"As for our assessments of this election, we will review specific results and duly evaluate them," Lavrov noted.
Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow was forced to forego plans on sending its observers to Ukraine in order to protect them from the threat of prosecution.
"In reality, the discriminatory actions by the Ukrainian authorities deprive Russian experts of an opportunity to take part in the ODIHR election observation mission. In this situation, the Russian Federation is forced to abstain from sending its observers to Ukraine, so as not to subject them to the threat of deliberate persecution," the ministry underlined.
RECOGNITION OF THE ELECTION RESULTS
The head of Kiev-based analytical center Third Sector, Andrei Zolotarev, told Sputnik that the absence of Russian observers from the Ukrainian election entitled Russia not to recognize the election results in the neighboring country.
"Most likely, the absence of observers from Russia will affect the recognition of the legitimacy of the election by Russia. The issue of recognition by Russia will be quite fair, because how can it be determined without observers," Zolotarev told Sputnik.
At the same time, the political analyst opined that the absence of Russian observers would not affect the recognition of election by the European Union and the United States.
"The European Union and the United States ... will recognize this election even without observers from Russia," Zolotarev added.
Ukrainian political analyst Bohdan Oleschuk also expressed the view that the absence of Russian observers in Ukraine can only affect the recognition of the election by Russia.
"We have a law [on banning observers from Russia]. Ukraine did nothing wrong by refusing access to observers from Russia. Therefore, there is no reason for international partners not to recognize the legitimacy of the election, if, of course, there are no serious violations during the election," Oleschuk said.
On Monday, the Ukrainian Central Election Commission (CEC) completed the registration of official observers for the 2019 presidential election. Over 2,000 international observers will monitor the presidential race.
It is a sharp drop from the previous presidential election, which took place in May 2014. It has been monitored by more than 3,600 international observers, including 282 people from foreign countries and 3,325 observers from international organizations.
The largest delegation for the upcoming election � 63 people � was sent by the United States. Another large delegation was sent to Ukraine from Poland � 40 people. Slovakia, France and Germany sent 16, 15 and 13 observers, respectively. Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Japan sent to Ukraine five observers each. Jordan, Spain and Sweden sent four representatives each, Turkey and Norway � three, Belgium and Portugal � two, and Azerbaijan and Moldova sent one observer each.
At the same time, the Ukrainian CEC registered 1,841 observers from 15 international organizations. Traditionally, the OSCE ODIHR sent the largest delegation, comprising 808 representatives.
Also, the Ukrainian CEC registered a large delegation from the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations, which includes 373 people. The Ukrainian World Congress sent 219 observers to monitor the election, the Canadian Election Observation Mission � 164 observers, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly � 118, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, which represents over 1 million Americans of Ukrainian origin, sent 78 people. The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs will have 83 observers in the election, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe � 36, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly � 23, the European Parliament � 13, and the International Republican Institute � 55.
Ukraine's CEC has also registered 19,500 observers from 55 Ukrainian public organizations. As for the observers from the presidential candidates, Zelenskiy's team has registered the largest number of them - 3,969 people.
