OSCE and the Ukrainian election

OSCE latest news releases:

I haven't been on top of this as I should have been but the OSCE issued some preliminary findings on the voting in Ukraine last week. The general finding was:

"'With a heavy heart, we have to conclude that this election did not meet a considerable number of OSCE, Council of Europe, and other European standards for democratic elections,' said Bruce George, President emeritus of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and Special Co-ordinator for the short-term observers. 'Consequently, this election process constitutes a step backward from the 2002 elections.'"

Some news reports found the results of the OSCE observation to be mixed because it reported some positive aspects:

"Nevertheless, the very high participation of the electorate and civil society in the election process show encouraging signs for the evolution of Ukrainian democracy." So in which direction is the evolution going? I don't know how you go from a "significant step backwards" to anything positive but I guess they were trying to be constructive.