Helsinki Commission hearing focuses on Ukraine's election (11/21/04)

Helsinki Commission hearing focuses on Ukraine's election

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - In preparation for the November 21 presidential run-off election in Ukraine, the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission) held a briefing November 16 on how things have transpired thus far and what could be expected to result from Ukraine's exercise in democracy.

The briefing featured three witnesses: former U.S. Rep. Jim Slattery, Ambassador Nelson Ledsky of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and Prof. Taras Kuzio, a widely read press commentator on Ukrainian affairs.

Mr. Slattery, who was a member of the Association of Former Members of Congress/U.S.-Ukraine Foundation delegation that monitored the first round of the election in October, said that Ukraine was not unique in having an incumbent government that would do whatever it could to preserve its power.

"We see it in our government. We see it with our own administration. We see it with members of Congress. And that's, sort of, a given in any democracy," he told the gathering in a Rayburn House Office Building hearing room.

From what his group was able to observe, however, the Ukrainian government "clearly went way beyond what would be normal practice in Western democracies," he added, citing the many gross abuses of what are called "administrative resources" for the benefit of its candidate - through its control of major media outlets, government tax and other agencies and institutions, its ability to raise pension payments just before an election, and the like.

Ambassador Ledsky, who is director of Eurasia Programs at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, because of ill health, had his presentation read by a colleague.

Aside from the many negative aspects of the election process, Mr. Ledsky said he was impressed with the high - 75 percent - voter turnout in the first round. This, he said, demonstrates that Ukrainians recognize the importance of this election, in which the winner "will be in position to set the course of Ukraine's political development, as well as for the country's economic and foreign policies for its coming five-year term and perhaps well beyond."

It was, therefore, incumbent on the government "to allow the will of the Ukrainian people to be heard," Ambassador Ledsky said.

Dr. Kuzio, currently a visiting professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, underscored the importance of Ukraine's elections for the Eastern European and Western Eurasian region. He noted that this part of the world has experienced a growing gulf between the Central East European and Baltic states, who implemented democratic reforms and became a part of Europe, and the post-Soviet countries, which, for the most part, have regressed in recent years.

Ukraine, he said, is one of only three countries - Georgia and Moldova being the other two - out of the 12 CIS states that have not regressed toward autocracy. Indeed, he added, Ukraine has a very popular, uncorrupted, pro-Western reformist leader - which is very unusual in that part of the world - successfully challenging the oligarchic political system.

"I think if Viktor Yushchenko were to win the election this year, the ramifications for the region, and for the CIS, would have similar very great, broad implications," he said. From the very beginning of the election campaign, however, "there never was a level playing field," he said, adding, "It was the dirtiest in Ukraine's history."

Dr. Kuzio attributed this in large measure to "Russian dirty tricksters" who are linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin and working alongside the Yanukovych campaign. He also pointed to the injection of anti-Americanism into the anti-Yushchenko campaign.

"We haven't seen an anti-American campaign on such a level since the Brezhnev era," he said.

On the positive side, Dr. Kuzio noted the "mass mobilization of civil society and young people," who in that part of the world are, for the most part, politically apathetic.

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