Even in post-Orange Revolution Ukraine, election environment has lingering problems (03/05/06)

Even in post-Orange Revolution Ukraine, election environment has lingering problems

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - To protest a Natalia Vitrenko rally in Dnipropetrovsk on January 19, 18-year-old Liudmyla Krutko brought with her a blue-and-yellow flag and stood across the street.

Just the sight of the Ukrainian flag was enough to offend the chair of the Vitrenko Bloc's oblast headquarters, Serhii Kalinychenko.

Along with two other men, he allegedly grabbed Ms. Krutko, threatened her with a gun, and dragged her to a group of about 20 nearby protesters, demanding that they all get rid of their Ukrainian flags.

"The one who held Liuda tried to hit me several times," reported Viktor Orel, a worker at the oblast's Liberal Party press center who took part in the protest.

"I dodged several times and went off to the side, thinking that I had avoided any danger. But then I felt two blows to the nape of my neck, from what felt like a metal object. And then a strong blow to my nose," he recalled.

This year's election violations aren't nearly as egregious as they were during 2004 presidential elections, said Oleksander Chernenko, press secretary of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU).

But, for those thinking that democracy instantly prevailed in Ukraine following the Orange Revolution, incidents such as the Dnipropetrovsk attack demonstrate that problems linger.

During a February 24 Our Ukraine rally in Luhansk, Party of the Regions supporters attacked, injuring participants and tearing down their orange flags. During the assault, the attackers yelled, "Get out! This is our turf!"

It's not only the pro-Russian political forces that are reported to have committed violations in this year's parliamentary campaign.

Orange-allied political blocs have wrought their own share of abuses, according to the CVU, which maintains a list of all of this year's election violations on its website, www.cvu.org.ua.

As a prominent example, Party of the Regions National Deputy Taras Chornovil visited a Ternopil radio station on January 31 to participate in a radio show. Pora Civic Party activists greeted Mr. Chornovil by forming a human chain in an attempt to prevent him from entering the radio station studio.

A fight ensued between Mr. Chornovil and his entourage and the Pora party supporters, resulting in one activist suffering light bodily injuries, while someone in Mr. Chornovil's entourage had his clothing torn.

Most reported violations committed by Orange-allied forces weren't criminal offenses.

State Property Fund Chair and Socialist Party member Valentyna Semeniuk violated administrative resource laws on January 17, when she openly campaigned for her party during a government-related business trip to Vinnytsia, the CVU reported.

"Administrative resource abuse" refers to government officials or business leaders using their positions of power or access to money to promote a political party or bloc.

Any political campaigning is supposed to take place outside a government building or business property.

"Cases of using administrative resources in favor of various subjects (i.e., parties and blocs) in the elections are widespread," the CVU reported, adding that the abuses increased in February among both those in power and the opposition.

For example, an employee who wished to remain anonymous told The Ukrainian Weekly's Kyiv Press Bureau that the national grocery chain Furshet has pressured or forced its workers to join Lytvyn's People's Bloc.

Furshet Director Ihor Balenko is running for the Kyiv City Council among the top five candidates of Lytvyn's People's Bloc.

"Unfortunately, during the reporting period no incidents have been reported when high-positioned people were punished for abusing their position of power for the elections," the CVU stated in its report released on February 25.

"This stimulates the unaccountability of authorities and supports more widespread abuse of positions of status during the elections," the report noted. The reporting period was between January 27 and February 24.

In Luhansk, Our Ukraine campaign materials were placed in the service center of Naftohaz Ukrayiny, the government's natural gas enterprise, which currently is directed by Our Ukraine Bloc member Oleksii Ivchenko.

Exploitation of administrative resources and "black PR" campaigns are not the CVU's biggest concerns at the moment, said Ihor Popov, the CVU's administration chair.

"The biggest problem in conducting the upcoming parliamentary and local elections is the formation and actions of the district election commissions," he said.

This year's elections are more poorly organized than they were in 2004, said Mr. Chernenko of the CVU.

The vast majority of election commissions weren't formed in time, Mr. Popov said. As of March 1, numerous election commissions haven't even started work because they haven't filled the minimum number of positions necessary, he added.

The political parties and blocs are at fault for not submitting candidates to the electoral commissions, Mr. Chernenko said. Many of those who do show up at the commissions become intimidated by the immense workload and responsibility, and quit altogether, he said.

"People don't want to work in election commissions," Mr. Chernenko said. "If the previous government placed pressure on people to join, the current administration isn't even providing the space for these commissions to operate."

The Kuchma government pressured business owners to provide space for election commissions to operate, he said. Now that the new law-abiding government can't resort to pressure, business owners are declining to open their doors to election commissions, Mr. Chernenko noted.

For those commissions that are up and running, many are functioning with the bare minimum amount of members, Mr. Popov said. As a result, those few members are likely to become overwhelmed with work and responsibilities, which may affect their ability to organize voting and tally votes, he said.

Such problems could be the grounds for lawsuits filed to contest the election results.

Other than the challenges of forming the district election commissions, this year's elections reveal progress in Ukrainian society, Mr. Chernenko said.

"With regard to the freedom and competitiveness of the political parties and blocs, as well as the rights of voters and candidates, these elections are a lot better," Mr. Chernenko said.

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