Ukraine's Presidential Election

The Supreme Court of Ukraine has annulled the recent runoff election and called for another vote to be held by December 26, 2004. While this is a great moral victory for democratic voices in Ukraine, we must ensure that the next vote meets rigorous international standards across all of Ukraine. The only way to ensure that an honest and democratic election occurs in Ukraine is for Canada to play a key role.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has submitted a request to the Canadian government in which we have requested funding for a large-scale observer mission to Ukraine. We anticipate sending from 500 to 1500 observers. The response to our appeal for observers, sent just last week, has been very encouraging and we are confident that the Ukrainian Canadian community will rally to the cause. A revised appeal to the community with the actual election date is being sent out.

In our letter to the Right Honourable Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada we requested that Canada demonstrate to the world its leadership in democratic development and reinforce its special relationship with Ukraine. The 1.1 million Ukrainian Canadians, including the 600,000 plus western Ukrainian Canadians are anxiously awaiting Canada’s commitment to ensure a truly democratic election process is held in Ukraine. To reaffirm Canada's commitment to provide a significant observer mission to Ukraine, the UCC has called upon the Government of Canada to fund UCC's election observer project.

We are, therefore, requesting the Ukrainian Canadian community to make its views known to the Federal government in this respect. Please contact the Member of Parliament for your area and request their support at this critical time in Ukraine’s history. We need to have our voices heard, and this can be done collectively if each person who reads this notice shares the responsibility.

We thank you in advance for your part in assuring that government support for the December 26th presidential election in Ukraine is forthcoming.

December 5, 2004