Mr. Speaker, the people of Ukraine are committed to a path of democratic reform.
However, we now have reports from neutral international monitors, including Canadians, stating that Sunday's election was neither fair nor transparent. The problems cited by observers include voter harassment, intimidation, biased television coverage by state owned stations, vote rigging and ballot box switching.
Despite this intimidation, exit polls show that opposition candidate Viktor Yuschenko was winning the election. However, the final so-called results placed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich as the winner.
Canada must condemn this election and join with the majority of the Ukrainian people in continuing to work for democratic reform in that country.