Gerard Kennedy

MP heads to Ukraine as election observer

Will assist in monitoring country’s presidential election

Parkdale-High Park MP Gerard Kennedy is among hundreds of Canadians who will be in Ukraine working as election observers this weekend as Ukrainians go to the polls Sunday, Feb. 7 to elect a new president.

No stranger to the mission, Kennedy was on hand for the parliamentary elections in Ukraine in 2007.

“The real story, as far as I’m concerned, is Canadians have been deployed as experts since the Orange Revolution. They’re very knowledgeable,” said Kennedy in an interview two days before his Feb. 4 departure. “They really embed themselves.”

Kennedy will be there to lend some official support to workers on the ground. Organized by the Canadian Ukrainian Foundation in partnership with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the election observer mission supports transparency and democracy by assessing the election process. These volunteers are there to monitor the process and by their presence, encourage a fair and democratic election.

Kennedy commended the volunteers whom he has seen in action.

“What they do is very, very admirable,” said Kennedy. “They get up at 7 a.m. and work until midnight before they go back to their motel.”

People who have been there, said the MP, know there are “real advances” going on in the country.

“Ukraine wants to prove to the world they can conduct their election,” said Kennedy. “If they don’t have credibility with citizens there, the country can’t move forward.”

The first round of elections took place Jan. 17, a process that was reported to have been ‘adequate’ in its attempt to meet international election standards. However, Canadian observers uncovered several irregularities, including an attempt to sabotage the election in 28 small communities around the Kyiv region, said Kennedy. The politician said he came across similar situations on his visit three years ago. The group he was with “intruded upon” a number of people illegally distributing ballots.

He said police were brought in by those trying to give out illegal ballots because they represented the dominant party and the local government in the region.

“We observers had our passports taken and were detained,” said Kennedy. “We got out after a five hour standoff after a combination of persuasion and the fact we had a couple of members of the national police show up based on a friendship by the Canadian leader of the local observer group with the president’s wife.”

“You come to take for granted the regular conduct of election. It reminds you how important it is,” said Kennedy. “There is no independent election commission in Ukraine. The parties get to run the election.”

Kennedy, who happens to be of Ukrainian heritage – his mother is Ukrainian – will be in Ukraine for five days.

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