Hosting Euro 2012 put Ukraine in the spotlight – but it was not only soccer fans who were watching the country. Several nations boycotted the contest in protest at the imprisonment of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
Now foreign secretary William Hague has described the Ukraine parliamentary elections on 28 October as “a litmus test for democracy in Ukraine,” the British embassy in in Kyiv has enlisted ISER’s Professor of Survey Methodology, Peter Lynn, to oversee the vote’s exit polls.
Peter said:
“The polls are designed to provide a validation of the official results and turnout figures so, with the world watching, their methodology must be robust.”
Peter is advising on the polls’ methodology and observing how this is implemented on polling day. His verdict on the reliability of the polls will be delivered to the Ukraine media a few days after election day and could have a big influence on whether or not official results are widely accepted.
This in turn could have a significant effect on the political future of Ukraine.
A report on Peter’s findings will be available on the ISER website.