Free Choice Coalition to coordinate voter education and monitor presidential elections

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - A coalition of non-governmental organizations in Ukraine has announced that it will coordinate efforts to ensure that the 1999 presidential election process will be democratic, free and fair.

Leaders of the group, which has labeled itself the Free Choice Coalition, said at a press conference in Kyiv on March 22 that the organization has tasked itself with educating Ukraine's electorate about new electoral legislation and with spurring young adults - who are most apathetic towards Ukrainian politics - to vote. As well, the coalition plans to develop an intricate system of election media coverage and monitoring.

Thus far 63 NGOs from 14 of Ukraine's 25 regions have signed on to the project. The individual organizations cover a wide range of social activities: from student groups, press clubs and women's centers to polling organizations and political science foundations.

"We believe the elections of 1999 will be very important for Ukraine - no less so than the referendum of December 1991," said Ilko Kucheriv, a leader of Free Choice and director of the sociological monitoring group, Democratic Initiative. "They will determine Ukraine's future," he added.

Presidential elections in Ukraine are scheduled for October 31 of this year.

For seven years, economic indicators in Ukraine have fallen and the standard of living has declined, which has left much of the population disenchanted with democracy and capitalism - a good portion of them yearning for a return to the old system. As a result, many experts, as well as Ukraine's political left, believe the time is ripe for a Communist revanche.

Others believe that President Leonid Kuchma, who has taken great pains to control the media through his political associates, will do almost anything required to retain the presidency.

Because Ukrainian politics in general and elections in particular have been bereft of any sense of order, or at times even lawfulness, and because many candidates do whatever it takes to win, Free Choice Coalition members believe that monitoring the electoral process is crucial to a legitimate outcome.

"Today we have a situation in which a large portion of our society does not believe that elections can be fair," said Mykola Tomenko, director of the Institute of Politics, another key leader of the Free Choice Coalition. "It is our goal to help develop the trust in a fair outcome."

Free Choice expects to assemble close to 20,000 independent monitors around the country to track the election campaigns of all the top candidates and hopes to have a structure in place that will allow them to predict with a high degree of probability what the outcome will be in order to detect any attempts at fraud and ballot-stuffing.

To motivate the youth vote and to overcome cynicism by middle-aged and older voters that a democratic election is not possible in Ukraine, Free Choice is also planning a series of television programs as well as a "show-tour" along the Dnipro River that will stop at major cities along Ukraine's major waterway.

"We will do all we can so that all candidates have equal exposure on Ukrainian television, especially government-controlled television," said Serhii Taran, vice-president of the Institute of Mass Information.

The television project will take three forms. First, the coalition will fund a program for middle- and older-generation Ukrainians to convince them that democracy and a free press must be a standard of any type of society and that every citizen has the right to have his voice heard.

Another TV program will be developed for younger voters, who are more attracted to pop stars and sports figures than politicians. It will include entertainment along with messages by leading entertainers that the youth vote is important.

In the last stage of the television project, an election night broadcast will cover the day's events and will include an interactive "tele-bridge" as Oleh Pavlyshyn, who will direct the television project, called the effort.

In the first-ever attempt in Ukraine, people from all over Ukraine will be able to communicate their thoughts and opinions on the elections to political leaders gathered at the television studio through an Internet connection to the studio while the results are still being analyzed.

Another innovative idea that Free Choice will utilize to raise voter awareness in Ukraine will be a riverboat show along the Dnipro that will feature Ukraine's brightest musical and sports stars. Plans call for, not simply a series of concerts at port cities along the Dnipro, but a complex series of presentations and information sessions highlighted by meetings with the stars.

The Free Choice leaders emphasized that although theirs is a loose coalition with few regulations, the one inviolable rule is that no group should support or endorse any candidate.

"There will be no leader of the coalition; we will be a loose group with a united goal," said Ihor Popov, director of the Committee of Voters, who will coordinate the 20,000 election observers. "Each group will have its own agenda. There will be few meetings such as today. But if any member expresses support for a single candidate that group will be expelled automatically."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 28, 1999, No. 13, Vol. LXVII

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