DOUBLE EXPOSURE: 'tis the (election) season (08/01/04)

DOUBLE EXPOSURE

by Khristina Lew

'tis the (election) season

When I returned from my trip to set up a voter education program in Ukraine, one-third of the e-mails in my in-box related to the upcoming election in the United States. Democrats and Republicans alike are jockeying for my vote, and both are going to great lengths to craft a winning image of their candidate while denouncing their opponent.

In the 10 days I was gone, I learned that the vice-president was caught telling an opponent "(expletive deleted) yourself," and that Teresa Heinz Kerry's foundation supports Islamic groups. And we have three more months to go.

Ukraine, too, has three more months of an election season before it. Its candidates for president also are busy crafting their image. But Ukraine's issues are a bit more complex.

I traveled to Ukraine to set up a series of town hall meetings in 12 cities in central and southern Ukraine. The program, created by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, is funded by the U.S. government through the National Endowment for Democracy and is meant to give the electorate an opportunity to meet with each presidential candidate (of which there are currently 12) or his representative.

Giving the voter access to information about each candidate takes on new meaning in a country like Ukraine, where the media is not independent, few people have access to the Internet and the prime minister, who is also a candidate for president, enjoys unrestricted media coverage simply by virtue of his job.

We launched the program, called "The Power of One," at a press conference in Dnipropetrovsk, home to President Leonid Kuchma. The city is stunning - tree-lined boulevards, sailboats skimming a wide swath of the Dnipro River, artists displaying their works right in the center of town. The statue of Lenin glares anachronistically at a brand new McDonald's. Every street sign and store name is written in Ukrainian, although you don't hear the language on the street. And, wherever you turn, there is a statue to Taras Shevchenko. Ukraine's candidates for president aren't the only ones shaping their image.

We held a presentation of the town hall format for civic organizations and the media in Odesa. Three people sat behind the podium: a representative of the Communist Party of Ukraine, a representative of the Party of the Regions (Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's party), and Oleksander Rzhavskyi, the first candidate for president to register in Ukraine. Mr. Rzhavskyi is also the only candidate thus far to declare his income to be over $1 million.

Mr. Rzhavskyi is the leader of the One Family (Yedyna Rodyna) party, and his platform calls for a Ukraine without an army, electoral party lists made up of 30 percent women, and "order" brought to the country using the methods of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

We set up the town hall meetings to allow for the electorate to question the candidates or their representatives as to their platforms and visions of Ukraine. The format also allows the candidates to question the electorate as well as one another.

The venue is perfect for someone like Mr. Rzhavskyi, who will get exposure on the local level that he might not otherwise have. He understands this, and told the UCCA that he plans to attend all 12 town hall meetings.

Viktor Yushchenko, another candidate for president, also understands that his best chance at exposure is by personally campaigning in towns and villages across the country.

In the end, however, despite their best efforts to get their message across, the election must be free and fair in order for each candidate to get a fair shot. President Kuchma told U.S. President George W. Bush that it would be so, but organizations like the UCCA and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are concerned. Both have fielded teams of international election observers in previous elections in Ukraine.

At issue is the large number of Ukrainian citizens living outside the borders of Ukraine - people who, having legally left the country, have the right to vote. Their number stands at around 7 million or roughly 15 percent of the entire country's population. Italy alone is a temporary home to some 500,000 Ukrainians, and some place the number of Ukrainians in the New York metropolitan area at 100,000.

Each embassy and consulate can accommodate up to 3,000 voters on Election Day. In the United States there are four such representations: the Embassy in Washington, and consulates in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Throw in Ukraine's Mission to the United Nations and, technically, 15,000 Ukrainian citizens in the United States can vote for president of Ukraine on October 31.

Ukrainians are permitted to request additional polling stations within the country where they temporarily reside, but they must be legally registered with their consulate to do so. In fact, according to the election law, a Ukrainian temporary living abroad and legally registered with his or her consulate can register to vote up to seven days before Election Day. Consider what would happen if 100,000 Ukrainians requested ballots from Kyiv on October 24.

So, while the Kerry and Bush camps are putting together teams of election observers and lawyers to monitor the elections across the United States, civic groups in Ukraine - both domestic and international - prepare to do the same in that country. Ukraine's election law even allows for election observers at polling stations abroad, but they must be Ukrainian citizens - no international observers are allowed.

Thus the election season - both here and there - is upon us.

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