Over 2,300 election observers in Ukraine, with more on the way (10/24/04)

Over 2,300 election observers in Ukraine, with more on the way

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - More than 2,300 international observers were already working in Ukraine on October 20, with up to another 1,000 expected in the country in the 10 days before to the October 31 vote. Their job was to review the current electoral process and observe the vote on election day to assess to what extent the presidential vote in Ukraine - in a campaign already filled with many ugly moments - would be free and fair.

As the international monitors arrived, leaders in their home countries were issuing warnings to the state leadership in Kyiv that if vote manipulation and falsifications occur, this could lead to dire consequences for the country, including sanctions.

Meanwhile, the respected Committee of Voters of Ukraine in its last report before election day stressed on October 19 that 20 percent of voting precincts in the country were effectively or literally not working.

"They were supposed to be working by October 1 to allow voters to review the ballots and to make sure that they and their families were properly listed on the rolls," explained Ihor Popov, head of the civic organization.

Mr. Popov said that part of the reason for the failure to open the voting precincts could be traced to a large problem the precinct electoral commissions were having in filling commission positions. He said people were reluctant to take a job that undoubtedly could be stressful on October 31.

The head of the civic organization also said that there are extensive problems with the accuracy of the voter rolls, where evidence suggested that up to 5 percent of the names of the lists were inaccurately or falsely listed, while another 2 percent had not been properly removed, which amounts to more than 2 million of Ukraine's 36.2 million eligible voters.

He gave as an example a precinct in the city of Melitopol, where CVU monitors found that soldiers of two military bases were registered to vote even though the bases no longer existed. Also in Melitopil, 205 people on the rolls no longer lived in the precinct, 146 did not live at the address that was given in the rolls, 16 were long dead and 28 who did live in the precinct were not registered.

The CVU has prepared nearly 10,000 election day observers to monitor the vote throughout all of Ukraine's oblasts and raion villages, as well as in more remote villages, where most experts believe the ability to falsify the vote count would be easiest. The CVU observers would be registered as journalists for the CVU newspaper, Tochka Zoru, because again this year, as in the previous elections, the Verkhovna Rada rejected a proposal to have representatives of civic organizations act as election observers - even while the international community had pressed it to do so.

The CVU observers will join some 600 observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which will have the largest international election-monitoring contingent. The Commonwealth of Independent States already has an extensive observer group on the ground in Ukraine, as does Russia, which has sent representatives from its State Duma.

Additional representatives from many other official and non-governmental organizations of many Western countries will be on hand also as official elections observers, including teams from the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia, Georgia, Germany and Great Britain. Among the other organizations sending observer groups are: the Council of Europe, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, Freedom House, the international human rights group For Free Elections, the Ukrainian World Congress and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.

Yet, even as the monitors arrived, their foreign governments were voicing their gravest concerns on the ability of Ukraine to pull off a free and fair presidential election.

The U.S. Embassy released a statement on October 14 via Richard Boucher, spokesman for the U.S. Department of State, expressing those concerns.

"We are deeply disappointed that the campaign to date has fallen short of international standards. The disruption of opposition rallies, muzzling of independent media, misuse of 'administrative resources,' and other serious violations cast doubt on the Ukrainian government's commitment to its democratic obligations," he said.

A day later, the European Union's Vice-President of the European Parliament Janusz Onyszkiewicz declared in Kyiv that if international observers were to judge the elections to be unfair or if they were deemed invalid, the EU would take "appropriate measures."

The deputy head of the presidential administration, Vasyl Baziv, responded to the threats coming from the West by noting on October 15 that the West was expressing a high level of interest in the Ukrainian elections because of the "unprecedented openness of the state and its preparedness to cooperate with a large number of international observers and organizations."

Mr. Baziv underscored that state officials had taken steps "to secure the free will of citizens" and to make sure that violence did not occur during the elections.

"Any attempts to unilaterally influence the election process in Ukraine, wherever they may come from, do not whatsoever promote normal conditions for the election process," warned Mr. Baziv, according to Interfax-Ukraine.

The presidential administration spokesman also noted that authorities were checking allegations by representatives of the presidential campaign team of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych that supporters of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, his main opponent, were preparing for street violence on election night should their candidate suffer defeat.

Meanwhile, President Leonid Kuchma dismissed as "fantasy" rumors that state authorities were preparing to introduce a state of emergency in Ukraine beginning on October 28, when Ukraine would celebrate the 60th anniversary of victory over Germany in World War II. A military parade is planned for Kyiv that day with Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled to be present.

To ensure the peace during the elections, the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that it had assigned 200,000 state militia officers and cadets to patrol the offices of the country's 225 territorial commissions and 33,485 election precincts a round the clock from October 29 to November 2.

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