Individual Election Observers Say Ukraine Election Reflected "Will of the People" While Foreign Ministry Expresses "Surprise" at Clinton Remarks

Individual Election Observers Say Ukraine Election Reflected "Will of the People" While Foreign Ministry Expresses "Surprise" at Clinton Remarks PR Newswire KYIV, Ukraine, November 1, 2012 KYIV, Ukraine, November 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A number of individual election observers have spoken out to say they found the results of the recently concluded parliamentary election in Ukraine to have been valid and legitimate, and reflecting "the will of the people". The testimony of eyewitness observers, including the former President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, contrasts with more negative and sweeping political statements such as that of U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who claimed on Wednesday that the election was "a step backwards" for democracy. "I have read a number of remarks about the fairness of last Sunday's parliamentary election in Ukraine, and I noticed that some of them bear little relation to what most actual observers saw as they travelled around the country. There is a difference between some of the rhetoric and what we saw on the ground," said Mevlut Cavusoglu (Turkey), Deputy Head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Observation Mission and Former PACE President.