Yushchenko campaign confronts problems on the road in presenting its message

by Jan Maksymiuk
RFE/RL Poland, Belarus and Ukraine Report

Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko recently set off on a campaign trip to the provinces. But almost immediately he confronted problems in presenting his election bid. On February 13, Mr. Yushchenko blamed the Poltava Oblast authorities for detaining his election agents and not letting him address voters on regional television. Mr. Yushchenko described the regional authorities' behavior as a "humiliation" for the president and the whole country.

Local police detained nine young men from Mr. Yushchenko's canvassing group, who had been posting leaflets. Two of them were immediately released after the police took 20 hrv ($3.70) from each. The other seven spent four more hours in the district police station. They were charged with violating Article 152 of the administrative offenses code, which prohibits sticking leaflets on architectural monuments. Next, local policemen announced that leaflets stuck on posts along the road hamper traffic.

"Why did the authorities not say a word to those who started posting advertising boards along all roads long before the election campaign [began]?" Mr. Yushchenko asked, referring to the canvassing by the pro-presidential For a United Ukraine bloc.

"The behavior of Poltava authorities surprises me very much. I could not contact regional leaders. The head of the Poltava Oblast State Administration ordered that no one should be put through to him but the presidential administration. I feel sad about it. This looks like the 1930s [Stalin times]," Mr. Yushchenko commented.

On February 16, Mr. Yushchenko was denied access to local television and radio stations in Kirovohrad. "The authorities want not to unite but, on the contrary, to disunite society in Ukraine," Interfax quoted the former prime minister as saying in Kirovohrad. Mr. Yushchenko added, however, that despite all difficulties he faces in the election campaign he will remain "a democratic partner of these authorities."

The same day in Mykolaiv, Mr. Yushchenko could not lease a location in the center of the city for a meeting with voters. When he tried to address voters on local television, someone cut off electricity in the studio. He had to call the oblast state administration in order to have electricity restored and be able to air his election message.

The Ukrainska Pravda website, which is quite skeptical about Mr. Yushchenko's intention to garner votes of the democratic electorate and please President Leonid Kuchma at the same time, published a scathing comment on Mr. Yushchenko's problems in the provinces:

"Last Monday, the leader of Our Ukraine - who boasts of the position of top politician in popularity polls - set off to conquer the provinces. However, as early as the second day [of their trip], the tough boys from Kyiv confronted the stinking reality of elections in all its uniqueness. And at the end of the week, Our Ukraine's indefatigable press service began to release some suspicious messages. We particularly like one headline from Saturday: 'Yushchenko says actions of local authorities force him to take firmer political stand.'

"But emotions are one thing, while mentality is the other. Despite all this, Yushchenko believes in the existence of a good tsar. According to his press service, he is going to inform Mr. Kuchma about his adventures in the provinces. Well, good luck. However, it seems that last week's occurrences are quite sufficient to make him finally understand who is his main foe. But Yushchenko's style [remains unaltered] - nothing personal against Mr. Kuchma."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 10, 2002, No. 10, Vol. LXX

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