FOR THE RECORD: Statement of Ukrainian Statehood Organizations re Ukraine's election (11/28/04)

FOR THE RECORD: Statement of Ukrainian Statehood Organizations re Ukraine's election

The following "Statement on the Elections of the President of Ukraine" was issued on November 22 by the New York-based Conference of Ukrainian Statehood Organizations in America (formerly known as the Ukrainian Liberation Front).

The people of Ukraine voted on Sunday, November 21, 2004, to elect the president of their country. On Monday morning it became clear that the government of Ukraine intends to deny them their choice.

The official tally of the election, 99 percent complete, is self-evidently untenable. Exit polls by reputable organizations supported by Western governments, including the United States, concluded that the opposition had won the election. When added to the long string of government abuses in the campaign leading up to the election, the results made public by the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Ukraine make a mockery of the election process.

The government of Ukraine is mistakenly counting on the assumption that the citizens of Ukraine will eventually accept these results. It is clear from the mass protests throughout the country that the people of Ukraine will not accept the results determined by the CEC. In Kyiv alone over 300,000 protesters gathered at Independence Square to condemn election manipulation.

A major factor in the fraud perpetrated against the Ukrainian nation was the role played by Russia during the run-up to the elections. The Ukrainian authorities would not have been able to achieve their nefarious ends if not for their confidence that Russia will back them in their plot to steal the election.

We call on the government of the United States to act quickly to condemn election manipulation in Ukraine. The citizens of Ukraine who are trying to rectify this injustice need to know that they are not alone in their demands for a fair and honest accounting of the vote. The government of the United States must act to condemn the crude manner in which the authorities in Ukraine ignore the peaceful, democratic wishes of its citizens.

We urge President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress to demand that the will of the Ukrainian people be respected. We call upon the US government to support the national democratic forces in Ukraine in the same manner as our government did with regard to Solidarity in Poland during the 1980s. We further urge the U.S. government to make clear to the government of Russia that further attempts to undermine democratic norms in Ukraine will not be tolerated.

Dr. Alex Striltschuk
Chairman

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