KIEV, Dec 21 (AFP) - Ukrainian election officials registered another 3,735 representatives of foreign governments and international institutions Tuesday to monitor this weekend's repeat presidential election, bringing the total number of foreign observers to over 12,000, Interfax said.
The observers represent key western and eastern European institutions including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the NATO parliamentary assembly, the European parliament and the Russia-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States, the news agency said.
A number of foreign governments have also registered their own representatives to monitor the election on Sunday, including the United States, Britain, Poland and Canada.
A total of 12,184 foreign monitors have so far been registered to supervise the vote, compared to the 5,000 that were deployed for the previous electoral contest on November 21 between opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovich, a vote ruled fraudulent and thrown out.
The new head of Ukraine's central election commission, Yaroslav Davidovich, has stressed that organizers were going to extraordinary lengths to ensure the upcoming election would not be marred by irregularities and fraud like the previous vote that was invalidated by the supreme court.
"We are controlling the entire process very strictly," Davidovich told reporters Saturday. "The process will be democratic, well-organized and carried out correctly."
Yanukovich, Ukraine's outgoing pro-Russian prime minister, was officially declared the winner of the previous vote and was twice congratulated by Russian President Vladimir Putin for his "victory."
That result however was immediately challenged by Yushchenko, the main opposition leader, who said exit polls showed that he had won the vote handily. The dispute paralyzed the country and revived Cold War-like tensions between Russia and the West.
12/21/2004 16:00 GMT - AFP