Kyiv, 19th May 2014

Official note by the EPDE Mission Council monitoring presidential elections in Ukraine.

On Monday May 19^th, the Central Election Commission of Ukraine issued accreditation for observers from international organizations. To our great disappointment, our mission has not received the expected accreditation.
We disagree with the decision of the CEC. Together with our Ukrainian partner OPORA, we have brought the decision by CEC to court. Anyway, due to shortage of time, we will not be able to organize your training and observation in the initial scope, even in case of the positive outcome. Therefore, we propose the following solution:
Those of you who have not paid for the tickets to Ukraine at the time of reading this newsletter can  make plans for the rest of this week at home. We cannot organize your participation in the mission. We are very sorry that you had to spend your time filling out a questionnaire for the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine and to worry about your accreditation.
Those of you who have booked the tickets as instructed by your regional coordinator before this message was published will be contacted by the coordinators to clarify the situation and to determine further action. You can also contact them. The mission will take measures to either to ensure your participation or compensate for your financial losses.
We will get the court decision on 21^st or 22^nd May and immediately inform you.
Council Mission EPDE