 Certain Viktory, But For Whom? By Scott LEWIS |
Included among the various often spurious charges that have cropped up during this years' presidential race:...Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is a former criminal with robbery and assault convictions. ... His chief rival for the presidency, Viktor Yushchenko, is married to an American CIA agent. ... The authorities tried to poison Yushchenko in an attempt to silence him. ... The United States is planning a 'velvet revolution' to install Yushchenko... Business interests in Donetsk want to take control of Ukrtransnafta to finance Yanukovych's election campaign.
... Yushchenko has a lot of dirt in his entourage. ...
So goes the campaign for president of Ukraine. Allegations, half-truths and hyperbole stream from the campaigns and from their supporters as the day for balloting draws near. While there has been some talk of arranging a debate between the two, nothing has been finalized.
Meanwhile, the European Union and the United States have continued to tie the conduct of free and fair elections in Ukraine's bid to join the WTO, EU and NATO. "Ukraine has a stated objective of becoming a member of NATO, a member of the EU," said an unidentified senior U.S. government official quoted in an August 9 Washington Times report. "They cannot do that if they are not a democracy."
The Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) linked fair and transparent elections to Ukraine retaining its status as a member of the Council of Europe. One U.S. congressman even went so far as to introduce a bill that would prevent any financial institution in which the U.S. participates from granting loans, financial or technical assistance to Ukraine if the election were deemed undemocratic. Ukrainian officials and their families would also be denied U.S. visas. Crooked election? Forget that Disney World vacation, Mr. President.
The government has made efforts to at least give the appearance that the voting will proceed democratically. President Leonid Kuchma, who is leaving office after a decade at the nation's helm, has ordered that the Central Elections Commission set up an office to assist the foreign election observers who are expected to flood into the country prior to the October 31 poll.
In Crimea, election officials made an effort to boost public confidence in the electoral process last May, when they videotaped voting and ballot counting, and installed transparent ballot boxes prior to a parliamentary election. Doing so proved expensive - each ballot box cost taxpayers Hr 500 - but it also scored high marks for effort.
But determining just what constitutes a free and fair election could be tough. The Ukrainian public seems resigned that balloting will either anoint the candidate favored by the authorities, or that the outcome really doesn't matter much, as both candidates are essentially integrity challenged.
A poll conducted by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation found that 67 percent of Ukrainians think that the presidential election campaign is being conducted unfairly. Campaign violations will likely change the result of the balloting, according to 25 percent of those polled. Just 14 percent through the campaign was fair.
The U.S. says that it has spent $13.6 million to facilitate a free and fair presidential election this year. The aid is part of a broader democracy assistance program, which includes $2.6 million for voter registration and training of electoral officials. More than $1 million has been allocated to support independent media and fund media watchdog groups, and almost $8 million is being spent to monitor political parties and provide non-partisan election observers. The remainder is being spent on exit polls, civics education, legal advocacy and a voter's rights campaign. The EU is investing in the election as well.
Western governments have pointed to several problems in the run-up to the elections, including harassment of opposition political activities by authorities. Halls and public squares booked weeks in advance for opposition rallies suddenly become unavailable. Bus companies under contract to opposition groups refuse to provide transportation, or find that their equipment has been vandalized.
The United States' effort to support independent media is no easy task in a country where most newspapers and television stations are either directly owned by the government or by powerful business interests closely tied to a political party. In past years, opposition and independent publications have complained that the authorities have confiscated their press runs, frozen bank accounts or closed their editorial offices under the guise of tax inspections. To avoid similar complaints this year, President Kuchma cautioned tax authorities against using raids to apply political pressure last February,
and a month later he ordered law enforcement agencies to refrain from inspecting mass media outlets until after the election.
Because there is little in the way of truly independent media, political observers regularly complain of skewed coverage. For example, they allege that state television regularly gives glowing reports on activities of the president and prime minister while shunning positive coverage of the opposition. In 2002, Human Rights Watch and other sources reported the existence of temniki, unsigned instructional memoranda containing detailed instructions for television station managers concerning the portrayal of political events during news broadcasts. The NGO contended that compliance with the instructions was "vigorously enforced by members of the Presidential Administration."
The nation's journalists are at risk as well, according to Reporters Without Borders, a media watchdog group. An inordinate number die in car crashes, and "physical attacks against investigative journalists increased alarmingly throughout the country. At least 11 journalists were assaulted in 2003 while investigating corruption implicating regional authorities or challenging local officials," the group said in a report. "Two journalists died in particularly dubious circumstances, but as of January 1, 2004, there was no firm evidence that they were murdered."
Last month, around 3,000 participants stood in a line along the capital's main street, Khreshchatyk. They held candles to commemorate the anniversary of the murder of Internet journalist Georgy Gongadze, whose headless body was found near Kyiv in November 2000. Similar rallies were held in L'viv and Odessa.
The senior U.S. official quoted in the Washington Times complained of "skewed coverage in the major media" against the opposition and of pressure on independent media or media associated with the opposition in the run-up to the election. He also noted that tax authorities were used to go after businesses associated with the opposition and of outright fraud in some local by-elections.
"All of these things have happened. And it's not a very pretty pattern," the official said. "And so we're concerned about how the elections are being conducted."
Regardless of which Viktor moves into the presidential complex on Bankova Street next year, he will need to sort out myriad domestic issues, including the nation's budget, tax system and continuing poverty, as well as foreign affairs like the country's position on Iraq, EU and NATO membership and the nation's hot-and-cold relationship with Russia.
Ukraine's relationship with Russia even became a minor campaign issue of sorts on Sept. 20, after ICTV reported that the 185,000 ballot boxes the government ordered built for the election are being made using Russian prison labor. The station said that a Rostov-on-Don firm won the contract in an open tender, then subcontracted the work to a prison.
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Read also previous issue' articles:
Tourism: Ukraine's Greatest Lost Opportunity
Cars, Cars - and More Cars
The Long Slide Into Instability
Sex, Money and the Modern Dacha
How to Stop Worrying and Love the Property Market
Separating Chornobyl
Fact and Fiction
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