Mr. Chairman,

On 21 July 2019, the early elections of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine took place in my country.

The Ukrainian authorities ensured the conduct of free and fair parliamentary elections in line with the national legislation, OSCE commitments and other international standards.

Following the democratic conduct of presidential elections on 31 March this year, the early parliamentary elections became yet another crucial step towards consolidating the democratic processes in the country.

The elections took place amid ongoing external aggression against Ukraine, thus resulting in no elections held in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions illegally occupied by the Russian Federation.

The citizens of Ukraine from the Russia-occupied territories had an opportunity to vote at any polling station on the territory under the Government’s control and in fact, many of them took part in voting.

According to the preliminary findings and conclusions by the International Election Observation Mission led by the OSCE ODIHR “fundamental rights and freedoms were overall respected and the campaign was competitive” during the current early parliamentary elections in Ukraine. “Generally, the electoral administration was competent and effective despite short time available to prepare the elections, which were seen as an opportunity to consolidate reforms and changes in politics that Ukrainian voters are hoping for”. These findings reflect a strong commitment of Ukraine to democracy and elections as an important instrument for free expression of the people’s will.

The international observers welcomed the fact that the simplified procedure for IDPs to change their voting address has now been extended to all voters across the country.

Election day was peaceful, with an overall turnout of 49.84% of voters. International observers assessed opening and voting positively in overwhelming majority of polling stations. According to the observers’ assessments, “vote count was transparent”.

As of morning 25 July, 99.85% of the protocols were processed by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine. According to the preliminary results provided on basis of processed protocols, 5 out of 22 political parties participating in the elections will be represented in the Verkhovna Rada: Political party “Servant of the People” (43.17% of votes), Party “Opposition Platform – For Life” (13.03% of votes), All-Ukrainian Association “Batkivshchyna” (8.18% of votes), Political party “European Solidarity” (8.1% of votes), and Political party “Voice” (5.82% of votes).

4 out of 5 parliamentary parties are strong adherents of Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration objectives which ensures a coherent continuation of Ukraine’s foreign policy. The significant majority secured by the Servant of the People party in the parliamentary elections provides President Zelenskyy with a strong platform from which to deliver on his ambitious manifesto commitments, including: fighting corruption; securing the independence of the judiciary; re-criminalizing illegal enrichment and abolishing the immunity of MPs; de-monopolization and deregulation of Ukraine’s economy; developing an attractive investment climate and driving a culture of innovation; promoting Ukraine’s digital economy; speeding up Ukraine’s EU and NATO integration trajectory.

Mr. Chairman,

Ukraine highly appreciates the broad international observation at the early parliamentary elections on 21 July 2019 with over 1700 observers from international organizations and foreign States, including the large-scale election observation mission by the OSCE/ODIHR.

We will carefully review the conclusions and recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Final Report with a view to continuing improvement of electoral legislation and practices.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.