Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has pledged to do his best to ensure that Ukraine's local elections scheduled for late October are fair, the president's press service said, RIA Novosti reported.
The statement came during a meeting between Yanukovych and co-rapporteur of the PACE Monitoring Department Mailis Reps, which took place in Kiev on Tuesday.
During the talks, Yanukovych and Reps discussed preparations for the polls due on October 31.
"Certainly, we are very interested to ensure that these elections are transparent and democratic. And I am doing my best to make it possible," Yanukovych was quoted in a statement as saying.
The Ukrainian president told the PACE official that one of the steps being taken by the Ukrainian government on the brink of the polls was the introduction of a new local elections law, "aimed at assuring equal participation opportunities for all political forces in these elections."
Besides this, Yanukovych said he had signed an order intended to prevent violations of law during election campaigns.
The creation of public television and radio stations in Ukraine is also on the agenda ahead of the elections, the president said.
"I personally supervise this issue, as well as issues related to each violation of media rights," he said.
Reps said in her turn that the PACE was ready to help Ukraine hold the elections.
Delegations from the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have been invited to monitor the forthcoming polls, the statement said.