ELECTION WATCH (09/05/04)

ELECTION WATCH

Our Ukraine chief tours Dnipropetrovsk

DNIPROPETROVSK - Presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, who heads the opposition Our Ukraine bloc, arrived in Dnipropetrovsk on August 22 for a two-day presidential campaign tour of the region, Ukrainian news agencies reported. In Dnipropetrovsk Mr. Yushchenko was met by Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the eponymous opposition bloc and his election ally. In Mr. Yushchenko's presidential campaign, Ms. Tymoshenko and her bloc are responsible for preparing his meetings with voters in Ukraine's eastern regions. Ms. Tymoshenko told the August 21-27 issue of Zerkalo Nedeli that her bloc is ready to lead a "real revolt" in the event of "large-scale falsifications" in the October 31 election. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Funds allocated for balloting abroad

KYIV - The Central Election Commission on August 25 approved 700,000 hrv ($132,000) to finance the organization of the October 31 presidential ballot for Ukrainians abroad, Interfax reported. The commission is planning to open 118 polling stations abroad for an estimated 215,000 voters. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Large exit poll is planned

KYIV - An ad hoc consortium of major Ukrainian polling agencies - the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the Razumkov Center for Political and Economic Studies, the Social Monitoring Center, the Socis center and the Democratic Initiatives fund - are planning to hold an exit poll of 50,000 voters at more than 1,500 polling stations on the presidential election day of October 31 and another one three weeks later, during a hypothetical runoff, UNIAN reported on August 27. Results of the polls will be published after the closing of polling stations in an election-night program on Ukrainian television and at exitpoll.org.ua. Serhii Tyhypko, head of the election staff of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, said he sees no need for such polls. "All these exit polls are an attempt at influencing the public opinion," Interfax quoted Mr. Tyhypko as saying. "They are especially trusted by those wanting to cast doubt on election results," he added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

OSCE asked to triple its monitors

KYIV - National Deputy Borys Tarasyuk, leader of the National Rukh of Ukraine (NRU), a component of Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc, has said that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe should send at least 2,000 observers for the October 31 presidential election in Ukraine, the NRU press service reported on August 30. "We are working with a number of governments to achieve that," Mr. Tarasyuk added. In July the OSCE announced that it was planning to dispatch 650 observers for the presidential election in Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Will the ballots be numbered?

KYIV - Political scientist Ihor Berkut told UNIAN on August 31 that the Central Election Commission's intention to print ballots for the presidential vote with numbers is "a technique oriented toward breaking the secrecy of voting." Mr. Berkut was commenting on Central Election Commission Chairman Serhii Kivalov's statement on the ICTV channel on August 29 announcing that each ballot for the presidential vote will be given a specific number and an additional number of the polling station at which the ballot will be used. According to Mr. Kivalov, such numbering will eliminate the possibilities to rig the vote by replacing real ballots with falsified ones. "There is another danger, however," Mr. Berkut said. "Imagine that the same numbers are marked down on voting lists. Then it is easy to identify who voted for whom." (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM's camp complains about opponents

LVIV - The Regional Election Campaign Headquarters (RECH) for presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych in western Ukrainian Lviv accused the Lviv RECH for presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko of using methods "that contradict Christian and social morals" and said that petition signatures are being collected near churches. The press office of the Yushchenko RECH, in a quick response, justified the practice. During a press briefing, Yurii Kril, head of the press office of the Yanukovych RECH for Lviv, said that people coming out after morning liturgy have previously been given special cards informing them to bring their internal passports with them. According to Mr. Kril, such methods contradict Christian and social morals. The Yushchenko RECH for Lviv said that they do collect signatures in front of churches. Ivanka Popovych, press-secretary of the Yushchenko RECH for Lviv, announced that staff of the RECH are doing this at citizens' request. She said: "People do not work on Sundays and they have no problem with taking their passports with them in order to sign their signatures [on petitions]. It is characteristic for people living in Halychyna [far western Ukraine] to stay around after liturgy and talk. At this time, they can give their signature for Victor Yushchenko if they want to. There is nothing wrong with this. I guess Mr. Yurii Kril cannot find faults with us, so he comments on 'methods that contradict Christian and social morals.' They won't find supporters near churches." (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

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