Turning the pages back... March 29, 1998 (03/24/02)

Turning the pages back...

March 29, 1998

Four years ago, our Kyiv correspondent described the scene on the eve of the parliamentary elections of March 1998.

"Kyiv is in the throes of a political election season like any in the West. Maintenance workers busily scrape political posters off public buildings; by the next day new posters are plastered on the walls. ... Mailboxes are filled daily with campaign bills and flyers ... Radio and TV news programs mercilessly interview candidates to present their views and platforms," wrote Roman Woronowycz.

However, not all the news was good.

"Where people gather the talk inevitably turns to the March 29 elections. Their mood, however, does not reflect the optimism and the hope portrayed by the politicians in their words and advertisements. It is a mood of apathy, inevitability and pessimism ... Kyivans talk of ... too many parties and not enough good choices," Mr. Woronowycz noted.

In Kyiv, the center of attention was the Lazarenko-Kuchma feud, which played out in the press almost on a daily basis. New accusations of corruption and financial improprieties cropped up weekly. The campaign had taken on controversial and, at times, even violent dimensions. A popular Kyiv businessman and candidate for mayor, Mykhailo Brodskyi, was arrested for alleged illegal financial wheeling and dealing less than two weeks before the elections. Odesa Mayor Edvard Hurvits and Oblast Chairman Ruslan Bodelan were locked in a political confrontation, during which several supporters were kidnapped or shot.

Yulia Hasheva, a 21-year-old student, said that although she was sick and tired of the political bickering and barely believed that the elections would be fair, she was definitely going to vote. "I understand that the government and those around it will choose its own people, but I believe that people must vote." Oleksander Slezovsky, a 42-year-old chauffeur, said, "I don't trust the people in government or the candidates. I don't think anything will change. I will vote, however. I will cross out the names of all the candidates."

Source: "Kyiv mood on the eve of elections: apathy, inevitability and pessimism" by Roman Woronowycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, March 29, 1998, Vol. LXVI, No. 13.

| Home Page |