ELECTION NOTEBOOK (03/26/06)

ELECTION NOTEBOOK

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The fiercely pro-Russian Derzhava political party, led by former Procurator General Hennadii Vasyliev, has resorted to attacking the Ukrainian American diaspora in its literature.

"We are proud of our nation, our people, our glorious and heroic history, our Orthodox traditions!" states a party flier. "We want to see Ukraine great, prosperous and free! We are patriots of our Slavic-Orthodox Nation!"

"They think that speaking Ukrainian with an American accent mixed with Polish, Romanian and Hungarian words is more patriotic than speaking in Russian," the flier states.

"They deny us the right to call ourselves patriots," the flier states. "For them, patriots are Ivan Mazepa, who sold out his people with an agreement with foreign invaders, and Stepan Bandera, stooges [sic] who shot Soviet soldiers in the back while going to Berlin."

"They raise their children to become American soldiers, while we [do so based] on the traditions of our ancestors."

For 2006 the parliamentary elections, Derzhava formed a political bloc, Derzhava-Trudovyi Soyuz (Power-Workers' Union).

The bloc isn't expected to make the 3 percent barrier for the Verkhovna Rada.
KYIV - The Ukrainian Congress Committee of American (UCCA) hosted a town hall meeting on Hrushevsky Street in downtown Kyiv on March 23, capping off a nationwide series that visited 10 Ukrainian cities.

At the "Voice Your Vote" town halls, representatives of political blocs and parties presented their platforms and then engaged in dialogues with voters.

"People even asked some uncomfortable questions of the political blocs," said Anatolii Yakovets, the coordinator of the "Voice Your Vote" program. "Not all were answered."

Popular political topics included social security and education.

The UCCA first hosted town hall meetings during the 1998 parliamentary elections; it did so again during the 2004 presidential campaign.

Since the project's inception, the UCCA estimates it has reached 20,000 Ukrainian voters. Between 50 and 250 voters attended this year's meeting across Ukraine.

A $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for Democracy financed this year's town halls, said Khristina Lew, the project's coordinator, while UCCA-funded brochures were given out to voters.

So what can be said of the Ukrainian voter?

"People are exhausted from the election process," Ms. Lew said. "And most people have already decided who to vote for," she added.
KYIV - Kyiv Mayor Oleksander Omelchenko accused mayoral challenger and Praveks Bank President Leonid Chernovetskyi of allowing his bank to aid in the laundering of money stolen from the Elita-Center investors.

"Praveks Bank of Kyiv is the single largest and most responsible [for the scandal], which created two internal limited liability companies which I can't reveal because they are confidential," Mr. Omelchenko said at a March 22 press conference. "Through these two companies, they cashed Ukrainian currency into American dollars."

About 1,500 investors found out in mid-February that they had lost more than $70 million they had entrusted to Elita-Center, a real estate company that claimed it was building seven apartment complexes in Kyiv.

The company's partners, Russian-born Oleksander Volkonskyi and Kyiv resident Oleh Shestak, are subject to international search warrants.

In response, Mr. Chernovetskyi said Mr. Omelchenko was engaging in a classic case of "black PR," adding that he would sue Mr. Omelchenko for defamation. Mr. Chernovetskyi said that several weeks ago Mr. Omelchenko demanded that he quit the mayoral race, threatening to reveal the scandal.

Mr. Omelchenko leads the Kyiv mayoral race with 31 percent support, according to a February poll conducted by the Ukrainian Sociology Service led by pollster Oleksander Vyshniak.

He became the target of widespread protests and blame for creating conditions in Kyiv's government that allowed real estate scams to occur.

Mr. Chernovetskyi enjoys 16 percent support, while 15 percent of Kyiv voters said they would cast their ballots for Vitalii Klitschko.
KYIV - A civic group calling itself Rodina Vostok (Eastern Homeland) has called on Ukrainian voters to select "against all parties" when casting their ballots to protest the closed party list system.

In the parliamentary elections, Ukrainians vote for a political bloc (a coalition of parties) or a single party, rather than selecting any individual politician.

Such an electoral system is absurd because it doesn't allow for any accountability of a party's leader to the Ukrainian people, said Ihor Gekko, the leader of Rodina Vostok.

No other parliamentary voting system in Europe, with the exception of Italy, forces voters to choose a closed party list, Mr. Gekko said.

"Why is this system considered progressive and European?" Mr. Gekko asked. "This system of voting is favorable only to the party leaders."

In the 2002 parliamentary elections, a portion of the national deputies were selected by closed party lists, while another portion were selected according to single-mandate districts.

However, the Kuchma government either pressured or convinced many of the single-mandate deputies to join the pro-presidential bloc, Za Yedynu Ukrayinu (For a United Ukraine), snatching the majority coalition away from Our Ukraine, which had won more votes in the election.

Our Ukraine's inability to build the parliamentary coalition prompted political reforms to make all the candidates part of a closed party list system.

Mr. Gekko claimed that no political party or bloc, or any affiliate, finances Rodina Vostok, which has 17 permanent offices throughout Ukraine.

| Home Page |