A delegation of 14 MEPs gives its support to democratic elections in Ukraine which have seen pro-Europe parties stride ahead of rivals in many regions.

Pro-Europe parties cement power in Ukraine

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Former President Leonid Kuchma  casts his vote

in an election that has seen Ukraine  turn its back on Russia.

preliminary results confirmed  Ukraine’s political transformation

as the pro-Western parties of incumbent  President Petro Poroshenko

and Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk  swept aside supporters

with both parties garnering  over 20% of the vote.

The result, if confirmed, would give  Poroshenko what he needs:

a governing majority to push through  a closer union with the West.

And over the weekend, Parliament  sent its very own election delegation

led by Andrej Plenković to oversee polling.  The 14 member team held meetings

with members of the Ukrainian Rada  or Parliament, opposition and civil society.

We are in contact with our teams  in, Odessa, Kharkiv,

Dnepropetrovsk and Cherkasy,  and everything seems to be going fine.

The Observers are in constant contact,  and the rest of the EU Parliament's team

as well as the rest of the contacts I had  in the course of the morning

with our friends from the Council of Europe,  the OSCE,

their impressions and information  are also positive and correct.

But voting hasn't been possible  in Eastern Ukraine

with pro-Russian separatists  in Donetsk and Luhansk

saying they'll hold their own elections,  leaving the Parliament 27 members shy

The EP delegation will present  final observations

on the elections in Kiev  later on Monday.

But with the bulk of their work behind them,  a moment at Maidan square -

the centre of violent clashes  almost year ago today

that led to  Ukraine’s European revolution.

There are two main messages  in Ukraine recently,

one is that the Ukrainian people,  its large majority, has chosen Europe.

And the other important political choice

is that the leaders of Ukraine  are choosing peace,

and these two major messages  need to be materialised in the work of,

I hope, a stable European-oriented majority  after the elections.

But despite the anticipated result, how  Russia will react to Ukraine's chosen path

along with those who will come to power’s  ability to stand united

to fix an economy in ruins, and a country  mired in corruption, awaits to be seen.