Yanukovych agrees to participate in TV debate after all (11/14/04)

Yanukovych agrees to participate in TV debate after all

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - After waffling for a week, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has agreed to debate National Deputy Viktor Yushchenko on national television.

"I have decided to put emotions aside and take part in the debates," Mr. Yanukovych said soon after the official results of the first round were announced on November 10. He cited the insistence of his supporters as the decisive element in his decision.

By all appearances, it was one of Mr. Yanukovych's more difficult choices. Far from Ukraine's most eloquent politician and hampered by limited knowledge of Ukrainian as well, Mr. Yanukovych had at first declined to take part in a televised debate with Mr. Yushchenko, his far more loquacious main contender. Mr. Yushchenko now leads in the presidential race after he won the first round of voting by just more than a half percentage point.

Earlier Mr. Yanukovych had demanded an apology for personal attacks allegedly made against him by Mr. Yushchenko while on the campaign trail. He had said that he doubted he could hold a serious discussion on the issues with a person he accused of covering him in political grime.

"What is the point when my opponents, who call themselves democrats, have from the first day, from the beginning of the pre-election campaign, covered me with dirt? Now they propose that I sit at the same table with them," noted Mr. Yanukovych on November 5.

Notably, Serhii Tyhypko, Mr. Yanukovych's campaign director, changed tack within a day, stating that while his candidate held certain opinions, the campaign team had yet to make a decision on the matter.

Mr. Yanukovych's claims of mudslinging seemed directed at Mr. Yushchenko's repeated pronouncements that state authorities in Ukraine were a group of bandits and specific reference to the prime minister's criminal past, offenses committed during his youth.

Mr. Yanukovych had adapted an election campaign strategy of personal non-confrontation, in which he stayed off the campaign trail for the most part and continued to work as the head of government while using his office to draw voters, whether by raising pensions or extending gifts to certain groups of citizens. In the meantime, his campaign team had used various public relations technologies to show his opponents, most directly Mr. Yushchenko, in a bad light.

International and domestic observers found that the 2004 presidential campaign in Ukraine, including the first round of elections held on October 31, were fraught with dirty and illegal campaign tactics, illegal use of government administrative resources and unequal access to the mass media for all candidates. They noted poor preparation of voter lists, extensive and improper use of absentee ballots, and the intimidation of voters. Most of the charges were directed at state authorities.

National Deputy Yurii Kostenko, one of the directors of Mr. Yushchenko's thus far successful campaign, on November 9 called Prime Minister Yanukovych's demand for an apology ludicrous.

"It is the height of cynicism that after all that has occurred during this election campaign, for which the prime minister is directly responsible, that he should now put forward such a demand," stated Mr. Kostenko.

While Ukrainian election law requires national television debates before the run-off between the two top vote-getters after an initial round of voting, Mr. Yanukovych's campaign officials seemed uncertain how to proceed on the matter even before the first vote took place. The prime minister declined to take part in one-on-one debates involving the 24 initial candidates, in which opponents were drawn by lots. At that time he had said that with so many candidates such a forum would not allow for a proper discussion of the vital issues at hand.

Mr. Yushchenko and Oleksander Moroz, candidate from the Socialist Party, announced at that time that without the prime minister's participation they saw no reason to take part.

Representatives of Mr. Yushchenko and Mr. Yanukovych are currently negotiating the details of the format to be used for the current debate, which is scheduled for November 16 and will be broadcast on the government channel UT-1.

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