Ukraine Equips all Polling Stations With Webcameras

KYIV, Ukraine, October 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

In an unprecedented attempt to allow broad public to monitor the course of elections in Ukraine, the government provided all 33,755 polling stations with webcameras. The devices will broadcast the video from the polling stations online - live on the day of the parliamentary elections, October 28^th. "Ukraine is open to all the observers willing to monitor elections", added the Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov.

"Both the President and the government are invested in fair and democratic elections", stated Azarov as he stressed the readiness for cooperation with international institutions regarding the elections. He informed that over 1,200 observers already registered in Ukraine with more than 5,000 additional international observers expected to come.

Foreign observers will be coming to Ukraine from 14 countries, including the U.S., Canada, the UK, Japan, and neighboring Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. Such international organizations as OSCE, ENEMO, CANADEM, ad CIS-EMO are sending their representatives to monitor the course of the elections with CANADEM having already issued their preliminary report on the social and political environment preceding the elections.

The parliament of Ukraine ruled to equip all polling stations with webcameras in July 2012. The cameras should be placed in a way that does not interfere with the secret ballot system and the freedom of voting, while ensuring the procedures of voting and vote count are abided. The video can be used as evidence in court.

Taking place on October 28^th, the parliamentary elections will determine the names of 450 MPs to make legislator decisions in the country for the next five years. Half of the Ukrainian parliament - 225 MPs - will be elected through party lists, while the other half will elected in single-member constituencies. The election threshold is five percent.

Five parties are likely to be represented in the Ukrainian parliament after October 28 elections, according to the latest poll by Rating Group. The ruling Party of Regions has the support of 23 percent of voters, the new political party headed by heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko Udar (Punch) - 17.9 percent, oppositionist Batkivshchyna, whose leader is the convicted ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, - 16.5. The rating of the Communist Party of Ukraine is 12.8 percent. The fifth party is the far right group Svoboda (Freedom) with 6 percent support.