Warsaw, 20th September 2012: European Exchange in partnership with the Polish Stefan Batory Foundation and the Lithuanian Eastern Europe Studies Centre launched the Civil Society Observation Mission to the Parliamentary elections on October 28th in Ukraine. The mission was opened by Polish Foreign Minister Radoslav Sikorski in Warsaw and will operate from September 17 till November 7. It will include 15 long term staff (experts and observers) and up to 150 Short-Term Observers, deployed in Lwiw, Tarnopil, Charkiw, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa and Kiev.The launching conference gathered patrons of the mission – Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Poland’s former president  and Markus Meckel, former opposition activist and the last Foreign Minister of GDR as well as donor institutions and representatives of other observation missions to Ukraine. Olha Avjazovska (Opora) and Oleksandr Chernenko (Committee of Voters of Ukraine) presented the pre-election situation in Ukraine and results of their work up to date. The mission will present two interim briefs before the election. The preliminary report will be presented one day after elections, on October 29. The final report will be published and presented at the end of November in Warsaw, Berlin and Vilnius. The mission is financially supported through the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation.

Read the full Press Release here.