STATEMENTS REGARDING UKRAINE'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Assembly of Rusyn Intelligentsia

Below is the text of a declaration issued by Rusyn civic organizations and the Assembly of Rusyn Intelligentsia concerning the Ukrainian government's falsification of the results of presidential elections in Ukraine and the resultant tense political situation in the country. The declaration was forwarded by Prof. Paul R. Magocsi on November 30.

Throughout the entire pre-election campaign and during the elections themselves, Rusyn organizations spoke out in support of a democratic electoral process in order to choose a legitimate president for Ukraine. Despite the fact that Rusyns in Ukraine are not recognized as a distinct nationality, they cannot remain indifferent to the fate of the state in which they live and therefore they have participated actively in the electoral process.

The present government of Ukraine has done everything possible to falsify the election results. We declare that the elections did not fulfill European standards in representing the will of the country's citizens, that the falsified electoral results were intended at all costs to secure victory for the candidate of the ruling government, and that these developments have caused destabilization throughout the state which could lead to civil war. We place full responsibility for this situation at the footsteps of the incumbent president of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma.

At the same time, the elections have proven that the candidate representing united oppositional forces, Viktor Yushchenko, is today the generally acclaimed national leader of our country. It is only the planned and massive fraud carried out by the government, with its significant impact on election results, that has prevented Yushchenko from securing a landslide electoral victory.

We demand that the Central Election Commission revise the electoral results in those regions where it is believed that the final results do not reflect the will of the people of Ukraine.

We demand from all political forces in Ukraine that they do not allow any bloodshed in the country and that they make every effort to stabilize the situation and to allow the peaceful transfer of the presidential office to the legitimately elected president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko.

We demand that the Uzhhorod City Council and the Zakarpattia Oblast Council meet in an extraordinary session to recognize immediately Viktor Yushchenko as president of Ukraine and to implement all his decrees and executive decisions.

Our Rusyn organizations call on the international community and on Rusyn organizations in other European countries and throughout the world to express their solidarity with the will of the people of Ukraine.

At this fateful moment in Ukraine's history, Rusyn civic organizations and the Assembly of Rusyn Intelligentsia call on all officials in our multinational region of Zakarpattia to unite and to give their unequivocal support to Viktor Yushchenko in order to assure Ukraine's further journey toward democracy, social progress, and prosperity.

Society of Subcarpathian Rusyns (Uzhhorod Branch)
Uzhhorod Dukhnovych Society
Assembly of Rusyn Intelligentsia in Zakarpattia

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, December 5, 2004, No. 49, Vol. LXXII

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