UKRAINE: Election monitors in Ukraine say they have been deluged by offers of international observers for the country's re-run presidential election, which is to be held on St Stephen's Day.
Fears that the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe might fail to find the required 900 monitors willing to sacrifice their Christmas holiday have proved unfounded.
Meanwhile, Russia and NATO eased tensions which had built up over almost three weeks of protests in Ukraine with a joint statement yesterday pledging support for a "free, fair electoral process".
France, Sweden and Germany have each offered more than 100 observers for the monitoring mission, while Canada's foreign minister, Mr Pierre Pettigrew, told his parliament that Ottawa would provide 500, if needed.
"The kind of pledges we are getting are extraordinary," said OSCE spokesperson Undur Gunnarsdottir. "There's already been a strong response."
The re-run election was only finally confirmed on Wednesday night when, under pressure from huge street protests, Ukraine's outgoing president, Leonid Kuchma, agreed to replace the election organisers blamed for rigging the November 21st poll.
Now international officials are scrambling to organise the second-biggest election-monitoring operation ever attempted in Europe - smaller only than the mission to Macedonia, after its civil war, in 2002. The monitors are needed to try to prevent what the OSCE said was "systematic and widespread fraud" in the original poll.
Winter clothing, transport and translators will have to be found for this army of monitors. Safety is also a concern, given that a number of monitors of the previous poll were confronted by thugs at polling stations.
The scale of the fraud during the November voting clearly shocked observers. Government-sponsored interference was said to have ranged from the destruction of tens of thousands of ballots to the bizarre use of pens filled with invisible ink being issued in areas where there was strong opposition support.
The European Union is sending its own team of experts, hoping to take credit not just for brokering talks between the government and opposition, but also for ensuring that democracy finally triumphs. Officials hope to bring Ukraine closer to the EU, with eventual membership likely to be offered as an inducement to good behaviour.
"Ukraine is welcome to the European Community, like any other democratic country," said Lithuania's president, Valdus Adamkus, who helped to broker talks in Kiev this week.
While the OSCE mission, which will be 1½ times as big as its previous Ukraine monitoring operation, should go a long way towards ensuring a fair poll, the political rifts in Ukraine remain deep.
Mr Viktor Yanukovich, the prime minister, who was declared winner of the rigged November 21st presidential vote, has refused to accept the need for a new election. He is expected to lose to his opposition rival, Mr Viktor Yushchenko, and has condemned the new poll as amounting to a "creeping coup" which must be opposed. If the result goes against him, he may call on eastern governors to renew their pledge to form a breakaway state.
All of this makes it imperative that the election monitors are seen to be impartial. "We have to be careful," said a western diplomat in Kiev. "We must make sure neither side accuses us of bias."
In Kiev, government officials have returned to work after protesters lifted a blockade placed on their offices two weeks ago. But the so-called "tent city", an encampment set up on Kreshatik Boulevard, remained in place yesterday, with activists pledging to stay on the site until the inauguration of the new president, which is scheduled for January 2nd.