ELECTION OBSERVER'S REPORT: The presidential vote in Dnipropetrovsk (11/14/04)

ELECTION OBSERVER'S REPORT: The presidential vote in Dnipropetrovsk

by Marta Kolomayets

DNIPROPETROVSK - On October 31, my colleague Dr. Marta Dyczok and I spent the day in Dnipropetrovsk as international election observers for the Ukrainian Canadian Committee and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, respectively.

Despite the fact that the overall situation in this industrial city situated along the banks of the Dnipro River in eastern Ukraine was calm, we, like, the international observer teams from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), saw irregularities and violations of voters' rights on election day.

Dnipropetrovsk, home to President Leonid Kuchma, not surprisingly, voted overwhelmingly for Viktor Yanukovych, the government's candidate. He received 50 percent of the vote, according to the Central Election Commission, compared to Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition candidate, who received under 20 percent.

To be sure, Dnipropetrovsk was no different from other regions of Ukraine, where the heavy-handedness of the current government's administrative resources tried to control the outcome of this election, by wreaking panic and spreading rumors of unrest and civil strife, by denying access to information and the right to assemble freely. It was in the Dnipropetrovsk region barely two weeks ago that the venue for Mr. Yushchenko's rally was repeatedly changed, his plane was denied landing rights and the lights in the square were turned off before he overcame all these obstacles to address the waiting crowd of more than 50,000.

On Sunday, October 31, army cadets were shipped in from other regions to vote (perhaps more than once) in a mechanism now being dubbed "carousel," where subordinates travel from polling station to polling station, with transit voting permits ("vidkripni talony"), cast their ballots under the supervision of an army officer.

Numerous citizens whose names had been on voter registration lists two weeks ago came to vote on Sunday only to find out that their names had disappeared. Voter intimidation was evident in closed environments such as hospitals and prisons, and in polling districts where most of the voters were blue-collar workers from state-run factories. Here factory supervisors and foremen were members of the district voting committees, and their underlings were closely watched during the entire voting process, while the factory deputy director paced the hall and proudly told international observers that the people who worked in the polling station would get a day's wages from the factory payroll.

In other districts, entire streets disappeared from the roster of voter registration lists as citizens protested the unthinkable. "My family has resided at the same address since 1936 - and we took part in voting in Soviet times, during these 13 years of Ukraine's independence. I don't understand," said a middle-aged woman determined to cast her vote on October 31.

Some local observers representing pro-government candidates played their own unique role - not as monitors for free and fair elections, but as advisers to the district committee chairpersons. In District No. 23 of Territorial Election Commission No. 26, where we were present for the vote count, it was obvious that the members of the district committee were novices when it came to rules, regulations and procedures on voting. (They even apologized for dragging the vote counting out until 3 a.m., blaming this on their own inexperience.) Their "adviser" became a confident young man who just happened to be the observer from the Yanukovych campaign. It is unclear whether the committee members knew that things were possibly being manipulated, but amid this chaos it seemed like something highly questionable was happening, including the fact that the head of the committee kept receiving phone calls both on the headquarters phone and on her cellphone at 2 a.m. - and rushing in and out of the room, which should have been kept closed until all the ballots had been counted.

As the saying goes, you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

I observed an electorate that will not be intimidated by the machinations of a corrupt government. Voters spent three, four, even five hours, trying to get their vote into the ballot box - symbolically these were clear plexi-glass urns "to ensure transparent elections."

If their name was not on the official voter registration lists, they had to write a declaration at their polling station and travel to the Territorial Election Commission, or the city court, where they had to stand in another line to present their complaint and then receive a document that would entitle them to vote. Then they had to return to their polling station and stand in yet another line to register and get their ballot. More often than not, the commission members would be rude and impatient with these voters; it becomes understandable why some citizens would not want to put themselves through this ordeal.

To be sure, there is still a segment of the electorate that is detached and disinterested. For the most part, these people are a dying breed, namely Communists, who will never get beyond the 5 percent mark that Petro Symonenko received in this first round of the presidential election. Some still live in fear and will not raise their heads out of the sand - but these numbers are falling significantly.

Voters here have been manipulated by government forces - they know why the final election results not yet been announced, five days after their votes were cast. Ukrainians are basically honest and decent people and, despite the fact that they are known for their endless patience, this time they realized that enough is enough. They can no longer be intimidated by threats, lies and "political technologies."

They are fighting perhaps the most important battle of their lives - the right to make their own choice, the right to live in a real democratic society, one that is motivated by deeds and not empty words.

In his statement regarding the first round of elections, Doros Christodoulides, head of the PACE delegation, said: "Ukraine now has three weeks to show that it is willing to organize democratic elections in accordance with its commitments. The authorities should ensure that both candidates have equal access to, and unbiased coverage by, the media. Both the authorities and political forces should refrain from any undue interference in the electoral process and fully respect the provisions of the electoral law and international standards."

Over the past month, during his travels throughout Ukraine, Mr. Yushchenko, often called "the people's candidate," has said to the multitudes that came to hear him: "I applaud every one of you who has raised himself off his knees, even if only by a centimeter - this is a heroic deed and this will be a step for Ukraine to have a true democracy."

"Every day, I see more and more people raising themselves off the ground; their battered knees coming off the floor - and this is an encouraging sign," wrote Vira Shpylova, a correspondent for Voice of Ukraine, a parliamentary newspaper, on the day after elections.

Indeed, these are encouraging and inspiring signs of a growing democratic, civil society. The people of Ukraine can and will make a difference. I believe in the people of Ukraine.

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