Mayor Terry Yemen has an opportunity to serve in an international capacity, safeguarding democracy in the Ukraine.
Yemen has been selected as a short-term observer for the 2012 Ukraine Parliamentary Elections.
Citizen of the Ukraine go to the polls on October 28. Yemen will be part of the CANADEM Mission. According to briefing materials, Canadian observers will be stationed in locations that would benefit from independent validation that the voting process is free and fair. They will also be in locations where there is a legitimate concern about voting irregularities.
CANADEM is a non-government organization that promotes democracy through activities such as observing elections. In the last 10 years it has deployed more than 4,500 observers to points around the world. CANADEM was requested by the Canadian Government to observe this Ukrainian election.
This is a short-term mission for Yemen. He will be first heading to Ottawa for a briefing on October 18. This is a large mission with in the area of 500 observers. On October 19, mission staff will be arriving in Kiev. They will return home November 1.
CANADEM describes the experience as rewarding, but a lot of work. It says volunteers can expect to put in one or more 24 hour-plus days. Accommodation will be simple, and in some instances there could be security risks.
Election observers are expected to maintain impartiality throughout the whole process. They are not to interfere with the election process, polling day procedures or the vote counting.
According to CANADEM, observers may wish to bring irregularities to the attention of local officials but must never instruct an official or go against decisions of election officials. They will participated in a post-election debriefing and base conclusions on well-documented verifiable evidence.