Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 November 2012
71. Deputy Eric Byrne asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade in his role as chairman in office of the OSCE if he will outline the rationale behind his decision to appoint Walburga Hapsburg Douglas as head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation to the Ukrainian Electoral Observation Mission with special responsibility to lead the short term observation mission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50472/12]
View answer72. Deputy Eric Byrne asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if the appointment of Walburga Hapsburg Douglas to lead the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation to the Ukrainian Electoral Observation Mission is a new departure in election monitoring; if he will outline the status of Walburga Hapsburg Douglas vis-à-vis the role of Ambassador Audrey Glover; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50473/12]
View answer73. Deputy Eric Byrne asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the person who instructed or took the decision which lead to the visit by the head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Walburga Hapsburg Douglas to visit the leader of the Ukrainian opposition in prison; if he will confirm if this visit was supported by the OSCE/ODIHR core team which is led by Ambassador Audrey Glover; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50474/12]
View answer74. Deputy Eric Byrne asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the name of the official who is spokesperson for the OSCE Election Observation Mission in the Ukraine; if he will confirm if it is Ambassador Audrey Glover or Walburga Hapsburg Douglas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50475/12]
View answer75. Deputy Eric Byrne asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the fact that 45 out of 67 OSCE/ODIHR Electoral Observation Mission LTO teams monitoring the Ukrainian election found that the campaign environment was fair overall and if his attention has been drawn to the fact that polling and counting of votes was also deemed to be overwhelmingly fair and transparent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50476/12]
View answer76. Deputy Eric Byrne asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if, in his role as chairman in office of the OSCE, his attention has been drawn to the various diverse positions being taken by international bodies in relation to the Ukrainian parliamentary elections; if his attention has further been drawn to the findings of the European Academy of Electoral Observation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50477/12]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 71 to 76, inclusive, together.
Election observation has been a key component of the work of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) since 1990, when the Office for Free Elections was established by the Paris Summit of the CSCE – the OSCE’s predecessor. The Office for Free Elections was renamed as the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in 1992 and ODIHR’s role in comprehensive election monitoring has been enhanced over the years, notably at the Istanbul Summit in 1999.
In 1997, a Cooperation Agreement on election activities was concluded between the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), reflecting a desire to avoid overlap, redundancy, unnecessary expense and confusion between the two OSCE institutions. The 1997 Cooperation Agreement provides inter alia for exchange of information, participation by the Parliamentary Assembly in Needs Assessment Missions, common briefings and de-briefings and logistical support to Parliamentary Assembly short-term observers. In accordance with the Cooperation Agreement, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office may designate a political figure as a Special Coordinator to lead the short-term OSCE observer mission. This political figure should normally be the President of the PA or an OSCE PA senior official recommended by the PA in consultation with the Chairman-in-Office. Among the key duties of the Special Coordinator is to deliver the preliminary post-election statement, in conjunction with other relevant figures.
The Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions is normally issued at a press conference on the day after an election, and is based on the work of the entire Election Observation Mission (EOM), including both the long-term and short-term observation components. While the OSCE PA has reserved the right to issue its own independent statement after elections, the usual practice in recent years has been for joint statements, reflecting not only the views of ODIHR and the OSCE PA but often including other election observation bodies, such as the European Parliament (EP), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) or the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA).
At the request of the Ukrainian Government, an OSCE/ODIHR EOM was deployed to observe the Parliamentary Elections in Ukraine, which took place on 28 October 2012. The EOM opened in Kiev on 12 September, led by Ambassador Audrey Glover of the United Kingdom. It consisted of a 20-member core team of experts from 14 OSCE participating States, 90 long-term observers and 600 short-term observers requested from OSCE participating States.
On 10 August 2012, in line with the Cooperation Agreement and at the request of the President of the OSCE PA, I appointed Ms Walburga Habsburg Douglas of Sweden, Vice President of the OSCE PA and Head of the OSCE PA delegation, as Special Coordinator. Her function, as indicated above, was to lead the short-term OSCE observer mission and deliver the Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions. The appointment of a Special Coordinator was in line with the practice for all other EOMs during the Irish Chairmanship of the OSCE, and recent practice during previous Chairmanships.
The Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions issued on 29 October found that the Ukrainian parliamentary elections were characterised by a lack of a level playing field and that certain aspects of the pre-election period constituted a step backwards compared with recent national elections. The campaign environment was assessed as not fair overall by 22 of the 45 OSCE/ODIHR EOM long-term observer teams. While election-day was assessed to be calm and peaceful overall, and voting and counting were assessed mostly positively, the tabulation process was assessed negatively, as it lacked transparency. In the Post-Election Interim Report issued by ODIHR on 9 November, it is reported that tabulation was negatively assessed in 77 of the 161 District Election Commissions (DECs) and that approximately 25 DECs observed in the days after the election experienced serious problems with tabulation due to irregularities and other issues. The OSCE/ODIHR is expected to issue a comprehensive final report, including recommendations for potential improvements, in the coming weeks.
The 14-page Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions was agreed by the OSCE/ODIHR, the OSCE PA, the EP, PACE and the NATO PA, the result of a common endeavour involving 802 observers from 42 countries, observing at 2,521 polling stations. I note that many other bodies also deployed smaller teams to observe the elections, including the European Academy for Election Observation (EAEO). While I am unable to comment on the individual assessments made by other organisations or their methodology, I can confirm that I have the fullest confidence in the election observation methodology used by OSCE/ODIHR, which is widely recognised as the gold standard in election observation activities and is consistent with the UN Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation and the related Code of Conduct for International Election Observers.
As regards the attempt by Ms Walburga Habsburg Douglas to visit Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of a political party which gained significant representation in the recent elections, this was a decision in which the Irish Chairmanship was not involved. Nevertheless, following the refusal to grant access to Ms Tymoshenko, I was in contact with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kostyantyn Hryshchenko, to outline my concern at the cancellation of visiting rights. I am not aware of any involvement by Ambassador Glover or the OSCE/ODIHR Core Team in the attempt to visit Ms Tymoshenko.
