PERSPECTIVES: Hooray for Ukrainian democracy (05/03/98)

PERSPECTIVES

by Andrew Fedynsky

Hooray for Ukrainian democracy

Ukraine held parliamentary elections last month, and you can spin the outcome any number of ways. A lot of observers looked at the results and declared the Communists the big winners. With 24.7 percent, they got more than twice the votes that Rukh received for second place. Take another look, though, and compare this year's election with the results the Communists polled for the last 70 or 80 years when they got every vote cast. This year, more than three-quarters of the people of Ukraine voting in a free election, said "no" to communism. It's easy to see why. When Communists ran things, they did a terrible job. Their legacy over three generations in power includes mass murder, famine, foreign aggression, environmental catastrophe, intellectual stagnation, financial bankruptcy, alcoholism, corruption, spiritual emptiness ...

Today, Communism in Ukraine is running on the inertia built up over three generations when it was the only party with the right to organize. That organization is still largely intact and is still capable of winning local elections, but from a national perspective communism is a spent political force that focuses on the past, evoking the "good old days" of Leonid Brezhnev. Fortunately, those days are gone and they're not coming back. That's not to say that communism isn't still dangerous. It is. Its leaders, though, have no vision, no ideas. The communist's answer to Ukraine's problems is to surrender sovereignty to Moscow. That still appeals to a lot of people, but it's not decisive: even in coalition with other parties, the Communists will not be able to control a majority in the next Parliament. Unless they change drastically, their only role will be to block reform and that's not a winning program for a country hungry for progress and eager for change.

The real winner in Ukraine's 1998 parliamentary election is democracy. In less than a decade, Ukraine has gone from a system with one political ideology to one with a broad spectrum of different parties: socialists, Greens, National-Democrats, Christian Republicans, National Front, Agrarians, Workers, Women, Muslims - 30 in all.

Certainly this reflects an immature political system, but it's healthy nonetheless, particularly compared to the time not so long ago when there was only communism and one set of views that tens of millions were forced to accept. Those who disagreed were tossed into prison or an insane asylum. Today, there is disagreement, there is rivalry, but no repression and no political violence. Ethnic and religious minorities enjoy full rights, even fielding their own political parties.

The election was clean and turnout was impressive: more than 70 percent. To its credit, Ukraine has already had one transition of presidential power and is now preparing for the next presidential election with every expectation that it will be fair and democratic. Winners and losers will abide by the results, just as they did in the election last month.

Achieving a stable democracy is a big deal for Ukraine. It's not something everyone excepted. In 1991, President George Bush warned the Ukrainian Parliament that "Americans will not support those who seek independence in order to replace a far-off tyranny with a local despotism." More recently in 1996, during the same week that Ukraine launched its currency reform replacing the kupon with the hryvnia, Forbes magazine published an outrageous article about Ukraine titled "Tinderbox?" The author, an associate editor at Forbes, warned darkly that "the world may not have seen the end of turmoil in Eastern Europe. Keep your eye on Ukraine." Comparing Ukraine to Iran, Bosnia and Chechnya, he profiled a militiaman from the lunatic fringe as if he were typical of most Ukrainians. Last month's election was a much more eloquent response to Ukraine's critics than any letter to the editor of Forbes could ever be.

Today, there's no shortage of problems to report from Ukraine. But, there's good news, too. The hryvnia is maintaining its value, half the economy is privatized, Ukraine's democracy is strong and the strategic partnership with the United States is steady and firm. The elements are in place for growth and development, but the new members of the Verkhovna Rada have their work cut out for them.

On paper, the parties dedicated to Ukraine's independence and to free market reforms constitute a majority. Now it's up to their leaders to work together and with President Leonid Kuchma for the fundamental changes that will bring Ukraine into the economic mainstream. The country needs investors. Investors need to know they can make an honest profit from their efforts. One of the first items on the Verkhovna Rada's agenda, therefore, has to be tax reform and the elimination of burdensome regulations. The multiple licensing requirements that exist today breed corruption and stifle economic growth. Another priority will be to unleash Ukraine's enormous agricultural potential. Give people land and the freedom to cultivate it. Agricultural support industries, food processing, marketing and exports will inevitably follow.

In the coming months and years, Ukraine will gain strength from democracy. The inexperienced political parties that polled in the single digits will learn from each election. Coalitions will form, parties will merge, leaders will rise to the occasion.

The United States has been a good friend of Ukraine, providing assistance, offering valuable advice, extending military cooperation, lending diplomatic support. Congress, which is now considering the 1999 budget, cannot but look favorably on the way democracy is taking root in this important country. Congress, by the way, deserves a good deal of credit for funding the programs that encouraged the growth of Ukrainian democracy. Similar encouragement and resources are still needed to help Ukraine get out of the economic mess that communism left as its legacy.

The 1998 election demonstrates that Ukrainians have decisively rejected that evil doctrine, but they are not yet ready to unite around a national party. As the memory of communism's sorry legacy begins to fade, a sense of Ukrainian identity will grow and with that a national consensus on something greater than the rejection of communism will emerge. Democracy is disorderly and cacophonous, but it sure beats every other system. So let's hear it for democracy: Trychi Slava!