NATO expects fair Ukrainian presidential vote

Brussels - NATO expects Ukraine to hold a free and fair presidential election in January, the alliance's secretary general said Thursday at a meeting with the Ukrainian foreign minister. NATO is keen to strengthen its ties with its one-time Soviet foe, but members are worried by the political infighting which has all but deadlocked reform in the country ahead of the election, seeing it as a sign of instability in a key partner and potential member.

"Allies do expect very high standards from Ukraine in every aspect of public life, the upcoming presidential elections being no exception," NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen was speaking at a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko and NATO counterparts in Brussels, just one month before Ukraine's presidential vote.

"Let me express confidence that this election will be free and fair," Poroshenko told the meeting in his opening remarks.

The "prosperity and wellbeing" of the Ukrainian people "can only be assured by deep, true, democratic changes," he said.

At a summit in Bucharest in April 2008, NATO leaders promised that Ukraine would join the bloc at an unspecified future date, and agreed to set up a permanent body to supervise their cooperation. The pledge polarized opinion in Ukraine, where many citizens still see NATO as an enemy power.

Ukraine's last presidential poll five years ago led to massive street protests, the overturning of the vote and the eventual election of the pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in the so-called "Orange Revolution."

Yushchenko and Tymoshenko subsequently fell out, and have spent much of the past year jockeying for power ahead of the January 17 election.