International monitors say vote was free of massive irregularities (01/02/05)

International monitors say vote was free of massive irregularities

by Andrew Nynka
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - International election monitors sent to observe the rerun of Ukraine's run-off election said the December 26 ballot won by Viktor Yushchenko was free of the massive irregularities that had plagued the November vote.

"The people of this great country can be truly proud that yesterday they took a great step toward free and democratic elections by electing the next president of Ukraine," said Bruce George, special coordinator of observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

With widespread fraud casting a shadow over the November 21 run-off election between Mr. Yushchenko and his rival, Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine's Central Election Commission announced on December 25 that it had registered a record number of 12,542 monitors to watch over the vote throughout the country's 33,300 voting stations.

But not all observers have said the election should be considered free of massive irregularities. The Election Monitoring Organization of the Commonwealth of Independent States said the vote should be considered illegitimate.

Vladimir Rushailo, head of the CIS Mission in Ukraine, told journalists while traveling in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on December 27 that he doubted the legitimacy of the Ukrainian election.

"We have monitored 18 elections in the CIS countries since 2002, and we have doubts over the democratic character and legitimacy of the rerun of the elections for the first time," Mr. Rushailo said, stressing that the first round of the election was legitimate.

Another CIS monitor, Roman Tkach, criticized the outcome during a press conference in Kyiv on December 27. "One of the sides showed, in our opinion, the absolute neglect of the law of their own country," Mr. Tkach said, referring to Mr. Yushchenko's campaign. "The elections must be held according to the law."

The CIS monitoring group later issued a statement on the election, which said: "The amendments made to laws during the election process badly damaged the interests of a significant number of voters, primarily senior citizens and invalids who found it difficult to reach polling stations unaided."

In a terse exchange, a spokesman for the Ukrainian government criticized the CIS statement. "We believe such comments go beyond the framework of normal functions of the observers," Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivskyi told journalists on December 28.

"The ministry so far cannot say if the reason behind the statement by the CIS mission was a political bias, lack of professionalism, or some other thing," Mr. Lubkivskyi added.

The OSCE official, Mr. George, commented on claims that the elections were tainted. "If you make an allegation about misconduct, then tell us where it took place, how it took place and who made that criminal act," he said. "If you cannot do that, withdraw the allegation."

Mr. George, also a president emeritus of the OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly, said the election moved Ukraine closer to European standards of democracy. "This time it is more pleasant to me to read a joint statement by observers saying the elections have approached OSCE standards and other international standards in such a short time."

"However, there were observers who said there were no irregularities during the previous elections. I wonder if we were monitoring the same elections. They must be ashamed," Mr. George said.

In addition to the OSCE, a number of other international monitoring organizations also have recognized the legitimacy of the election and urged that it be recognized.

"Your country has made a choice," said Emil Shleymovych, press secretary of the Eastern European Countries Institute, on December 27. "Our mission recommends to recognize it."

Peter Novotny, head of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO), which has had long-term monitors in Ukraine since October 15, called the vote "peaceful, better organized than previous rounds and generally free of fraud."

"Although ENEMO observers noted concerns about certain procedural issues, the violence, intimidation and large-scale manipulations of mobile and absentee voting we saw on November 21 were generally absent," Mr. Novotny, whose group had over 1,000 monitors in Ukraine, said in Kyiv on December 27. "The conduct of this election in such a short time frame is a testimony to the excellent work of election commissioners, campaign workers for both candidates and, most of all, the Ukrainian people who demanded government accountability."

Aaron Rhodes, executive director of the International Helskinki Federation for Human Rights, said the election was the most transparent the country has seen so far.

"Most likely this issue will still be brought up in the courts, but we consider this move to be political and, in our opinion, it does not have a concrete foundation," Mr. Rhodes said.

Russian officials, on the other hand, have put their support behind the conclusions made by CIS monitors. "The breaches typical of the first round and run-off recurred: massive canvassing on polling day, and the presence of campaign posters and ads affecting the voter's choice," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Yakovenko said the day after the election. "OSCE observers preferred to downplay these facts in their report."

"Western observers who constituted the overwhelming majority of the many-thousand-strong international mission from the OSCE /ODIHR believe that the repeat run-off brought Ukraine significantly closer to international standards," Mr. Yakovenko said.

However, Western observers recognized the existence of poorly composed voters' lists, which meant that some people left polling stations without voting, the foreign minister added. He also noted the existence of provocative campaign materials and confusion in voting outside polling stations.

"In these conditions, the conclusion that the elections met certain standards does not look convincing," Mr. Yakovenko said.

The election seems to have moved Ukraine closer to Europe, as a number of countries have since recognized the vote as legitimate and said they recognized Mr. Yushchenko's victory.

Georgia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Israel, the Netherlands, the European Commission and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have all since said they recognize the election's legitimacy.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, the first head of state to publicly support the outcome of the vote, congratulated Mr. Yushchenko two hours after the polls closed in Ukraine. "On behalf of the Georgian people, now I can congratulate my friend Viktor Yushchenko on a deserved election victory," the Georgian president said during an appearance on Ukrainian television. He also said he spoke with Georgian election monitors in Ukraine, who told him "the ballot proceeded without violations of democratic rules."

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski congratulated Mr. Yushchenko during a telephone conversation with him on December 27, according to Mr. Yushchenko's press center.

"The whole of Europe was tensely watching the Ukrainian elections and today feels great happiness that democratic processes have won in Ukraine," President Kwasniewski said, according to Interfax-Ukraine. "Poland very much wants this."

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