ELECTION WATCH (11/21/04)

ELECTION WATCH

Debate seen as "new standard"

KYIV - Members of Viktor Yanukovych's and Viktor Yushchenko's election staffs positively assessed the live debate between the two presidential candidates on UT-1 on November 15, Interfax reported. "I think that this [debate] sets an absolutely new standard [in Ukrainian political life]," Mr. Yanukovych's campaign manager, Serhii Tyhypko, commented. Anatolii Hrytsenko, an analyst on the Yushchenko campaign staff, agreed and said the debate was "very important, indeed." Mr. Tyhypko argued that debate viewers saw a "self-assured politician" in Mr. Yanukovych who "easily oriented himself in all issues and behaved with absolute dignity." Lawmaker Mykola Tomenko, a member of the Yushchenko campaign staff, claimed that Mr. Yushchenko behaved like a future president, while Mr. Yanukovych assumed the role of an opposition politician. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Businessmen protest Kinakh's decision

KYIV - The heads of 30 enterprises and organizations in Kharkiv have protested against the decision of the leader of the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, former presidential candidate Anatolii Kinakh, to sign a political agreement with the Our Ukraine coalition's leader and presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko on supporting Mr. Yushchenko in the second round of this year's presidential elections. The heads of enterprises and organizations expressed their protest in a joint statement, a text of which was obtained by Ukrainian News. The statement said that members of the Kharkiv regional chapter of the Hranyt organization of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs condemn Mr. Kinakh's decision to sign a political agreement with Mr. Yushchenko because they believe it discredits the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. The statement also says that economic growth has started in Ukraine and that this was facilitated by the constructive economic policies of the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who has created conditions for development of the industrial sector. (Ukrainian News Agency, Action Ukraine Report)

Students strike in Ivano-Frankivsk

KYIV - Nearly 5,000 students of higher educational institutions in Ivano-Frankivsk, all members and supporters of Pora (It's Time), Chysta Ukraina (Clean Ukraine) and Studentska Khvylia (Students' Wave), went on strike in Ivano-Frankivsk under the banner "Youths against falsification!" The students demanded the holding of fair presidential elections and called on representatives of law enforcement agencies not to react against the expression of the will of voters. They also called on youths to enlist as monitors during the election. They picketed the regional state administration, prosecutor's office, court and regional tax administration. The students chanted, "We are together, we are many and we will not be defeated!" "East and West are together!" "We are with you Sumy!" and "Yushchenko! Yushchenko!" Many of those who took part in the strike had orange bands and stickers on their clothes with the words "No to government falsifications!" The students carried the state flags of Ukraine and flags with the insignia of Our Ukraine bloc's leader and presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko. (Ukrainian News Agency, Action Ukraine Report)

Amnesty International expresses concern

LONDON - Amnesty International has expressed concern that the authorities in Ukraine continue to arrest people who exercise their right to peacefully protest, following the sentencing of six people in the town of Sumy for demanding to know the results of presidential elections in their district. "It is important that Ukraine demonstrate to the world that it respects the right to freedom of expression in the run up to the second round of presidential elections later this month," the organization said. The six sentenced were among a group of election monitors and members of the public who had gathered at a polling station in Sumy on the night of October 31 to ask for the results of the vote count for the presidential elections to be displayed according to the regulations. According to reports, election officials refused to post the results and called the police. Ten people were charged on that night with insubordination to the police and were released shortly afterwards. On November 13 police detained all 10 people again after going to their homes at 6 a.m. and in many cases taking them from their beds. Six of them were sentenced to 10 days' administrative detention according to the Code on Administrative Infringements. (Amnesty International)

Putin makes second campaign visit

KYIV - Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Ukraine on November 12 in what some observers regard as a show of support for Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's presidential bid ahead of the latter's run-off with opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko on November 21, Ukrainian and international news agencies reported. Mr. Putin was shown on Ukrainian Television channels embracing Mr. Yanukovych and wishing him good luck in the run-off. President Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, attended the signing in Kerch, Crimea, of a bilateral accord to establish a ferry line between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula. Mr. Putin visited Ukraine for three days before the October 31 presidential ballot, when he praised the economic performance of Prime Minister Yanukovych's Cabinet in a question-and-answer session that was broadcast live on three television channels and attended a military parade. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Poland urges fair presidential vote

WARSAW - Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz called for a free and fair vote in the November 21 run-off in neighboring Ukraine during a visit to Kyiv on November 12, Ukrainian and international news agencies reported. Mr. Cimoszewicz, who was reportedly scheduled to meet Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and President Leonid Kuchma, instead met only with the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, the head of the Central Election Commission and opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko. Mr. Yushchenko showed Mr. Cimoszewicz what he later said appeared to be falsified election ballots during their meeting, according to the dpa news service. Mr. Cimoszewicz, who is the new chairman-in-office of the Council of Europe, said he hopes Ukrainian authorities will clarify the origin of the documents presented by Mr. Yushchenko. Mr. Cimoszewicz also suggested that the Council of Europe will examine the problem itself if Ukrainian authorities fail to take appropriate action. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yushchenko campaigns in the east

KYIV - Opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko held a campaign rally on November 13 in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, the predominantly Russian-speaking region where he overwhelmingly lost to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the first round of voting on October 31, Ukrainian and international news agencies reported. Mr. Yushchenko addressed, alternatively in Russian and Ukrainian, an estimated crowd of 20,000 people in Ukraine's second-largest city, assuring them that neither Russia nor the millions of Russian speakers in Ukraine will be neglected if he is elected. Some 5,000 people held a rally on November 14 in support of Mr. Yushchenko in Kherson in southern Ukraine, another region where Mr. Yanukovych bested the opposition candidate in the first round. Mr. Yushchenko failed to attend the rally in Kherson, reportedly so he could prepare for the televised debate with Mr. Yanukovych on November 16 on state-owned UT-1. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rivals confident of victory in run-off

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's campaign staff has expressed confidence that Mr. Yanukovych will win the run-off on November 21 by a 3-4 percent margin despite his defeat by opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko in the first round of voting on October 31, Ukrainian media reported on November 10. Mr. Yanukovych's campaign manager, Serhii Tyhypko, said he accepts the first-round results despite what he described as numerous examples of illegal voting in favor of Viktor Yushchenko in western Ukraine by voters for relatives who are working abroad. Meanwhile, Mr. Yushchenko's staffers predicted that their candidate will win the run-off by a similar 3-4 percent margin. Mr. Yushchenko, too, has accepted the first-round results, although he charged that authorities rigged the ballot to improve Mr. Yanukovych's tally. "I'm thankful that in the first round, despite the government's brutal behavior toward voters, we have, together, with your help, achieved a victory," an RFE/RL correspondent quoted Mr. Yushchenko as saying after the announcement of official election results on November 10. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yanukovych advertises in Silski Visti

KYIV - The November 12 issue of the daily newspaper Silski Visti published advertisements for Viktor Yanukovych's presidential campaign on its first and second pages, the Obkom website (w1.obkom.net.ua) reported. Silski Visti Editor in Chief Vasyl Hruzin told Obkom that the Yanukovych materials were published as paid advertising, adding that the client also paid for an extra print run of 400,000 copies of the issue in addition to the daily's 600,000 regular copies. Silski Visti targets primarily rural readers in Ukraine and is associated with the opposition Socialist Party led by Oleksander Moroz. Mr. Moroz, who got 5.81 percent of the vote in October 31 presidential balloting, has urged his adherents to vote for Viktor Yushchenko in the run-off. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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