NEWS AND VIEWS: CIUS and the Orange Revolution (05/01/05)

NEWS AND VIEWS

CIUS and the Orange Revolution

by Bohdan Klid

Fall 2004 was a period in which staff of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) became increasingly focused on the presidential election in Ukraine. This involved, for the most part, preparing and providing information related to the Ukrainian presidential election, and what has become known as the Orange Revolution, for colleagues, the media and the general public. During this period CIUS also managed the Ukraine Transparency and Election Monitoring Project (UTEMP).

UTEMP was officially launched on September 10, 2004, when Toronto MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj presented CIUS with a $250,000 check on behalf of his family's charitable foundation called Dopomoha Ukraini - Aid to Ukraine. James Jacuta headed the project for CIUS, while the NGO Community Energy Foundation was CIUS's partner in Ukraine.

UTEMP sent 26 Canadians to Ukraine under the auspices of the project. Some were involved in designing and delivering seminars on election laws, policies and procedures for local election officials and scrutineers. Others participated as election monitors. Their observations were noteworthy - especially on the second round of voting on November 21, 2004, as they were witnesses to irregularities and even fraud.

Of particular importance were the UTEMP-sponsored observer missions of Canadian parliamentarians, which included MPs Bernard Bigras (Montreal Rosemont - Bloc Québécois), Peter Goldring (Edmonton East - Conservative), David Kilgour (Edmonton Mill Woods-Beaumont - Liberal), Judy Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North-New Democrat), Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Etobicoke Center - Liberal) and Sen. David Smith. The Canadian government's decision not to recognize the officially announced results of the November 21 vote was in part due to the reports of the parliamentarians, some of whom witnessed serious electoral law infractions.

UTEMP observers also informed the Canadian media about the presidential election, and themselves wrote articles for the National Post and Globe and Mail. Local newspapers across Canada also carried stories on the election featuring or mentioning the UTEMP director, Mr. Jacuta, and UTEMP observers. MPs Wrzesnewskyj and Goldring were featured several times on national TV broadcasts by both the CBC and CTV networks from Kyiv. Maclean's magazine in its December 6 issue published an interview with Mr. Jacuta.

CIUS staff in Edmonton and Toronto were often called upon by the local and national media to comment on the elections and their aftermath. In Edmonton, Drs. Zenon Kohut, Serhii Plokhii, Bohdan Klid and David Marples gave interviews that were broadcast on CBC TV and Radio and used by print journalists for articles that appeared in the Edmonton Journal and other newspapers.

Dr. Marples wrote several commentaries that were published in the Edmonton Journal and Toronto Star. Drs. Klid and Marples gave public lectures on the events in Ukraine, and Dr. Kohut spoke at a rally in front of the Alberta Provincial Legislature on November 23, which was organized by University of Alberta students to call attention to the serious electoral law infractions and fraud committed during the second round of elections.

In Toronto, Frank Sysyn, Marko Stech and Roman Senkus of the CIUS office there gave numerous interviews for CBC TV, radio and Voice of America. Dr. Sysyn also participated in a forum on the Orange Revolution at St. Vladimir's Institute in Toronto. Mr. Senkus's e-mail list became a major source and information network for events on the Orange Revolution.

CIUS was also involved in a joint venture through the Stasiuk Program for the Study of Contemporary Ukraine with the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at University of Ottawa and the Kennan Institute in Washington, to produce a regular bulletin on events in Ukraine related to the elections. Funding was provided, in part, through CIUS's Kowalsky Program, to prepare translations into English of information and articles from Ukraine.

The Stasiuk Program also sponsored a seminar on events in Ukraine, which took place on November 30. Chaired by Dr. Kohut, Dr. Marples, Ilya Khineiko and Mr. Jacuta spoke to a large audience of staff and students at the University of Alberta on the unfolding political crisis in Ukraine.

When the Canadian government announced it would send up to 500 observers for the repeat second round of the presidential election on December 26, Jars Balan and Dr. Klid applied and were accepted under the Canada Corps program. Dr. Klid was sent to Cherkasy, while Mr. Balan was sent to Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi in the Odesa Oblast. Both found that, although there was political uncertainty and not much time to organize the repeat vote, members of the electoral district and territorial commissions acted in a professional manner to ensure the vote was conducted fairly. Following the election, international observers concurred that the repeat vote that brought Viktor Yushchenko to power met international standards.

CIUS also lent support to student initiatives at the University of Alberta related to the Ukrainian elections. Roman Shiyan, a research assistant in CIUS's Kowalsky Program for the Study of Eastern Ukraine, together with fellow students Oleh Petriv and Serhii Feniuk, became involved in the campaign to open a polling station in Calgary (closed by the Ukrainian authorities two days before the elections). They also helped organize meetings in Edmonton in support of those calling attention to the fraud committed during the second round of the election and gave interviews to national and local TV, radio and newspapers.

All of these efforts made a valuable contribution toward informing the Canadian public and academia on what was taking place in Ukraine.

Dr.Bohdan Klid is research scholar and assistant director at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies based at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

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