Kwasniewski Speaks out for Televised Debates in Ukraine

Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski wants to see more observers monitoring the runoff elections in Ukraine, a ProEurope correspondent in Warsaw quotes Kwasniewski as saying during his televised appearance on TVN24 television. President Kwasniewski also spoke of the need to eliminate the violations that took place during the election campaign and the October 31 voting, such as the failure to provide all presidential contenders with equal access to the mass media and errors in voter rolls, which prevented many Ukrainians from casting their ballots. “I would like these violations to be eliminated in these three weeks,” he said. President Kwasniewski believes that an appropriate solution to the problem of equal access to the media would be to organize televised debates between the two presidential frontrunners-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko. Mr. Kwasniewski also said that Poland intends to develop cooperation with whoever is elected president of Ukraine. Viktor Yushchenko earlier expressed his readiness to take part in a televised debate with the prime minister before the runoff. Viktor Yanukovych has yet to decide whether he will take part in such a debate. The first round of the presidential elections on October 31 was monitored by over 4,000 international observers, 85,000 observers from political parties and associations, and close to 390,000 observers from the presidential nominees.