REFLECTIONS OF ELECTION OBSERVERS: In the city of Dnipropetrovsk (02/13/05)

REFLECTIONS OF ELECTION OBSERVERS

In the city of Dnipropetrovsk

by Michael Kostiuk

Shortly after the second round of the Ukrainian presidential election was officially invalidated by the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the government of Canada announced that it would send 500 Canadians to be election observers for the repeat second round election. Approximately 100 of these Canadians would be assigned to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) while the remaining 400 would be part of the Canada Corps mission to Ukraine. I was one of the Canadians chosen to be an OSCE observer. After receiving a day and a half of training in Ottawa, the observer group left on two charter flights for Kyiv on the evening of December 22. Shortly after our flight landed in Kyiv we were separated into OSCE and Canada Corps teams and bussed to our assigned hotels. From this point I did not see any other Canada Corps members until the return to Ottawa flight on December 29.

On December 23 a one-day OSCE election orientation session was held at the Ukrainian Aviation University in Kyiv. One of the most important rules that we were told to observe in both the Ottawa and Kyiv training sessions was the rule of impartiality. In fact we were told that "we shouldn't give a damn" who wins the election as long as it is carried out in a fair and open manner. We were not to take sides in the election, nor were we to be seen to be favoring one side or the other. That meant, among other things, to avoid wearing partisan colors of the two candidates such as white, light blue or orange.

The OSCE in Ukraine supplied the OSCE short-term observers with an election kit that required each two-person OSCE team to record various important observations on election day. Some teams were also assigned to monitor the activities of the Territorial Election Commissions (or TECs) and that meant staying there overnight, often until noon the next day. I was part of an OSCE group that was assigned to the city of Dnipropetrovsk. We travelled there via the overnight train on the same evening as our OSCE orientation session in Kyiv. I was teamed with Aurore Chaigneau, a law professor from Paris.

The city of Dnipropetrovsk was founded in 1787 by Count Potemkin on the order of Catherine the Great on the site of a Kozak fortress. To this day the local people still take pride in their Kozak heritage. The region has a population of 3.7 million, and the main industries are heavy machinery, chemicals, food products, as well as rockets.

For the many rich citizens there are many expensive shops and high-quality restaurants situated around the city's main street, Karl Marx Prospect. The main square of the city is Lenin Square, with contains a very large statue of Lenin. The square, as well as many parts of the city, are being transformed by the additions of many new modern structures. Construction cranes dot the skyline. The McDonald's restaurant is a very popular spot on the square, as are the huge outdoor electronic advertising billboards, which display "loud" rock videos and an assortment of commercial messages to the delight of the young people who frequent the area.

The city also has a very good streetcar/tram line that runs on dedicated "right of ways" and on very wide treed boulevards in the center of the city. The tramlines also extend across the Dnipro River to the suburban and peri-urban areas. These trams lines and wide boulevards are a legacy of Soviet city planning, and most Canadian cities would love to have them. However, while the center of the city appears to be booming, the peripheral areas show signs of decay with poorly lit roads.

On the day before the December 26 vote our OSCE team, consisting of Aurore, our driver, our interpreter and me, visited our assigned polling stations to let the polling station personnel know we were coming the next day. I dressed in proper business attire, wearing an OSCE armband and with election observer accreditation clearly visible. Having worked in Ukraine before I know the importance of presenting oneself as a competent professional.

At 7:30 a.m. on election day we went to our first polling station. We asked permission to take pictures and videos at every poll, even though the election law allowed it. Throughout the day every polling station played loud, fun-style (even disco) music, and there were also bake sales in the lobbies of the schools. The idea here is that election day can be a fun day as well. With the exception of one nervous and agitated polling commissioner, we were treated extremely well in our visits to the polling stations. Most of these visits were also recorded on my digital video camera.

Our team recorded the opening of two polling stations, observed and made written reports of 18 polling stations, and observed the closing of Polling Station No. 6 in TEC No. 25. A copy of the vote protocol was obtained from Polling Station No. 6 after the vote count. The vote protocol contains the official results of the vote and is signed by the polling commissioners. Two of the polling stations also had specific problems that required the completion of a special comments form. After observing the vote count, we faxed our completed reports for the day's events back to Kyiv at 1:30 a.m. the next morning. We then had a debriefing session with the long-term observer for the region at 2:30 a.m. Hard copies of polling station reports and the protocol were dropped off at the OSCE desk when we returned to Kyiv on December 28.

One of the issues that stood out in our visits was the problem of access that older and disabled people have in getting to the polling stations. All of the polling stations that our OSCE team visited were located in schools, and many of the polls were located on the second or even third floors. As well, in a winter election, night comes early and the suburban and rural streets often have no streetlights. That is why some older people (in my opinion) did not get out to vote. Many of the manholes have also been stolen for scrap metal, making nighttime walking a hazard to say the least. Perhaps having the election in the late spring or early fall would allow more people the ability to get to the polls. As well, moving the polls to the first floors and installing ramps at the entrance to the schools would help older and disabled people gain better access to their polling stations.

The common language in the region is Russian, although most people understand Ukrainian. Ukrainian is also the language of instruction in Ukrainian schools. According to the OSCE, the political situation in the region is somewhat complex. This is partly due to the fact that Viktor Yanukovych originates from neighboring Donetsk, which is a regional rival to Dnipropetrovsk. Consequently, Viktor Yushchenko is supported by some elements of the Dnipropetrovsk business community who are in competition with businesses in the Donetsk region. In the first run-off of the election Mr. Yanukovych received 60.94 percent, Mr. Yushchenko received 31.02 percent and 6.39 percent voted for "against all." There is also a large student population attending the city's 26 universities and post-secondary institutions, and it is presumed that many are opposition supporters. There was even a small protest tent city situated near the Lenin statue.

Therefore, the vote split is not so much Ukrainian versus Russian, as it is region against region and between the youngerset (who do not know communism) and the older generations (who are still thinking about the long-term linkages to Moscow). It is also not so much about whether there needs to be change in Ukraine but what degree of change is needed and how quickly it should occur.

I feel fortunate that I was an election observer and look forward to other observer missions in the future.

Michael Kostiuk of Ottawa was a short-term observer for the OSCE.

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