{"id":49244,"date":"2014-10-24T13:25:18","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T13:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=0c8f153d4e624206ad1736e8e849d02d"},"modified":"2014-10-24T13:25:18","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T13:25:18","slug":"press-release-foreign-secretarys-pre-election-message-to-the-ukrainian-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=49244","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Foreign Secretary\u2019s pre-election message to the Ukrainian people"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Speaking today, the Foreign Secretary said: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This Sunday\u2019s parliamentary elections illustrate Ukraine\u2019s commitment to democracy.  The UK stands squarely behind you as you exercise your right to choose your country\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<p>I welcome the steps the Ukrainian authorities are taking to ensure that as many Ukrainian citizens as possible can exercise their right to vote, including arrangements for people displaced from their homes by the instability in the east and the illegal annexation of Crimea.  These elections are being conducted against the backdrop of a precarious ceasefire and continued violence in the Donbas region.  I commend all those working to ensure a free, fair and peaceful vote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">I am pleased that independent observers from the UK will join over 2300 international observers participating in the OSCE\u2019s election observation mission to report on the conduct of the elections in line with international standards.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Notes to Editors<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<p>The UK is sending 71 independent observers to support the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring mission.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>The OSCE\u2019s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) released its <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.osce.org\/odihr\/elections\/ukraine\/125397\">interim report on the Ukrainian parliamentary elections<\/a> on 10 October 2014.  More information on the OSCE election observation mission can be found on the OSCE website.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3 id=\"further-information\">Further information<\/h3>\n<p>Follow the Foreign Secretary on twitter <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PHammondMP\">@PHammondMP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow the Foreign Office on twitter <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/foreignoffice\">@foreignoffice<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow the Foreign Office on <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/foreignoffice?ref=hl\">facebook<\/a> and <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/b\/105922144104190309938\/+foreignoffice\/posts\">Google+<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"contact\" id=\"contact_193\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Media enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"email\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Email<\/span><br \/>\n              <a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:newsdesk@fco.gov.uk\">newsdesk@fco.gov.uk<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">News Desk <\/span><br \/>\n              020 7008 3100\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has issued a message of support to the Ukrainian people ahead of the country\u2019s parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}