Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Senator Raynell Andreychuk and former Ontario Premier Mike Harris will lead the Canadian bilateral election observation mission to Ukraine
20 May 2014 23:44
The Canadian bilateral mission will be led by Senator Raynell Andreychuk. Having previously led Canada’s delegations for the 2010 and 2012 elections, Senator Andreychuk is a leader in the Ukrainian Canadian community, and brings significant experience in election observations and knowledge of the Ukrainian political system.
For these key elections, she will be joined by the Honourable Mike Harris, former Premier of Ontario. Having served as provincial Premier for seven years, Mr. Harris will bring insights and expertise from the democratic process and executive leadership.
Canada is sending a total of 500 observers to Ukraine to monitor the first and second rounds of the election: 338 of the observers will form part of Canada’s independent Ukraine 2014 Presidential Election Bilateral Observation Mission. This includes approximately 38 long-term observers and 300 short-term observers who will undertake electoral analysis, stakeholder engagement and support the Canadian election observer mission.
The remaining 162 observers will participate as part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly observation missions.
Canada has a long history of providing observers to elections around the globe. Since 2004, Canada has contributed hundreds of election observers to five successive Ukrainian elections to help further strengthen democracy in the country.
