	UKRAINIAN REGIONAL REPORT Election Newsletter-2002
March 2nd 2002 Issue #4 ------------ This project was supported by the Democracy Fund of the U.S. Embassy, Kyiv The views of the authors do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Government The project "Ukrainian Regional Report" was supported by the International Renaissance Foundation URR Editor: Laryssa Mudrak Newsletter Editor: Iryna Solonenko Translation and language editing: Halyna Balanovych & Paul Miazga Contributors: Ivan Kostiuk Yevhen Zelinsky Kateryna Luhova Vitaly Zeliuk Krainyk Oleksiy Maksym Mykhailenko Natalia Zilhalova Volodymyr Prytula ------------ Kyiv Centre of the EastWest Institute Khreshchatyk str. 10B 6th floor Kyiv 01001 Ukraine tel. (+38 044) 4620053/54 fax. (+38 044) 4620052 kyivcentre@iews.kiev.ua
	Chernihiv Region Most Chernihiv citizens are set to give their preference to Victor Yushchenko`s Our Ukraine block, but The Communist Party of Ukraine and The Social Democrats of Ukraine (united) are also strong contenders. Nevertheless, almost half of all local voters remain undecided. These results come from a poll conducted by the volunteers of a Chernihiv human rights group and by a local institute working towards self-government. As stated above, 40.65 per cent of Chernihiv residents are still undecided. Those in favor of the Our Ukraine block received 15.89 per cent support, 14.49 per cent went to the communists, 11.35 per cent was pledged to the united social democrats and there was 4.67 per cent support for Women For The Future. All other political blocks and parties received less than 4 per cent support from all respondents. Of those polled, 83.92 per cent said they would vote, 12.94 per cent said they would not and 3.14 per cent would not say. In Borznyan’sk district, any administrative official willing to meet candidate Ivan Plyushch’s competitors in constituency # 209 will be fired, local observers claim. For two weeks now, Valeriy Borovyk and Olexander Pukhkalo have been running smooth election campaigns in the constituency, where Ivan Plyushch, the current speaker of parliament, is currently running for re-election to the Verkhovna Rada for a deputy position. In the towns of Nizhyn and Bakhmach, there have been no problems with the local authorities, but in Borznyan`sk district (where Plyushch was born), all administrative officials were given notice of dismissal should they appear at any meeting in support of Borovyk or Pukhkalo. As a result of this, Borovyk`s election meeting in Borzna town was cancelled, as was a concert for his campaign team. At first, he was refused premises, then after an appeal to the head of the local state administration, permission was granted and the corresponding rent was paid. Despite this, on the very day of the meeting, Borovyk was told that the appeal had been rejected. The local feels intimidated by the potential division of their district between Nizhyn and Bakhmach if Mr. Plyushch is not reelected. Observers say that local fear over splitting the vote is being used by Plyushch to personally benefit from it. Poltava Region More than 700 voters in Poltava came to meet Ms. Yulia Tymoshenko. Her rival, however, Ms. Natalya Vitrenko, and her comrade-in-arms Volodymyr Marchenko, were only greeted by maybe 150 supporters. The hall where the Beauty’s (Block Juliyi Tymoshenko) leader made her speech was filled beyond capacity, denying some people the chance to even come in and see Tymoshenko speak. Her speech was reserved, logical and consistently critical as far as the current government is concerned. Mrs.Tymoshenko has confirmed her wish to cooperate in any future government with Olexander Moroz and Victor Yushchenko, while criticizing For a United Ukraine, the communists and the progressive socialists (supporters of Petro Symonenko and Vitrenko). She has urged all those in attendance to ignore the catchy slogans and election programs of her competitors and to vote for the individual political leaders and their action platforms. Rivals Vitrenko and Marchenko, the leaders of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, visited Poltava two days earlier, criticizing the IMF and claiming their genuine opposition to the ruling power while at the same time faulting Moroz, Symonenko and Tymoshenko. Zhytomyr Region Our Ukraine’s supporters have received rough treatment from the regional law enforcement bodies throughout the campaign. From the very first days of the election campaign, Mr. Yushchenko`s supporters have been regularly detained by the local police and elite militia Berkut members. They have also been stopped and interrogated while putting up campaign posters and distributing leaflets in legally recognized locations during the daytime and without any apparent violations of campaign legislation. Specifically, on the 20th of February, Berkut Major V. Zhmuts`kiy threatened Our Ukraine’s activists with arrest and the use of brute force. On the 23rd of February, at a disco party in Novohrad Volyns`kiy, two of Yushchenko`s supporters were detained for giving out the block’s calendars, which were subsequently destroyed on the spot. They were detained for 36 hours and roughed up before being released. On the basis of a medical examination, the regional branch of Our Ukraine has lodged a complaint with the Zhytomyr Prosecutor’s Office. Ivano-Frankivsk Region In all six regional constituencies of Ivano-Frankivsk region, more than 10 candidates are being promoted by different political forces for seats in the parliament, whereas there are only one or two nominees running in each constituency for the position of city mayor and for local state administration positions. There are two notable exceptions: Yaremcha and Kolomiya townships, which have 11 and 9 candidates, respectively. In Ivano-Frankivsk, two people, including incumbent mayor Zinoviy Shkutyak, are up for election. According to reports, two additional candidates will be registered in the near future. In most other townships of the region, only one person is registered for the local mayor position. Mr.Yushchenko`s large placards in Ivano-Frankivsk reading, “Not by a word but by an act” have been pasted over by Mychhaylo Rudenko`s slogan, “With a though of all and everyone.” Regional experts point out that Mr. Rudenko (a candidate in regional constituency #85) is an ex martial arts world champion and militia officer who has been able, although employed as a simple state official, to afford the most expensive advertisements in the region. Chernivtsi Region Olexander Burdenyuk, the leader of the newly united regional Rukh block, is running as an independent in the Verkhovna Rada elections (in constituency #202) against Victor Korol`, a Solidarity faction member supported by Mr. Yushchenko`s block. Last weekend, two regional Rukh parties unanimously elected Mr.Burdenyuk, the leader of the regional organization of the Peoples Movement of Ukraine, as the head of a united Rukh organization, leaving Ihor Babiuk, the leader of the regional Ukrainian People’s Movement, by the way side. This is quite a paradox, taking into consideration that on the national level, two Rukh parties belong to Mr. Yushchenko’s For Our Ukraine block. In Chernivtsi region, both Rukhs will thus be competing with For Our Ukraine block representatives. No comments have been made yet by either of the two central Rukh factions. Surprisingly, Burdenyuk has not dwelt upon his chances of success. However he did remark that certain individuals are currently riding on Yushchenko`s positive image to enter the parliament. Transcarpathian Region The socialist democrats (united) continue to distribute consumer goods to the local population in an attempt to buy votes. Last week in Abranka village, Mykhaylo Voloshyn, the secretary of the Volovets party organization, was seen distributing jackets made in China. Voloshyn is running for the position of district state administration deputy. According to the regional weekly Sribna Zemlya (The Silver Land), one of the SDPU’s leaders, Mr. Surkis, was supplying the jackets as humanitarian aid after a 1998 flood. ^{The Autonomous Republic Of Crimea (ARC)} The registration of candidate Leonid Hrach, the speaker of the Crimean parliament, has been cancelled. He is insisting the Crimean election cannot take place without his candidacy. On the 25th of February, the district branch of the Simferopil` Court cancelled Hrach’s candidacy. Hrach is the regional communist leader, and his candidacy was dismissed on the basis of plaintiff’s statement. The statement was issued by Ms. Inna Galkina, the spokesperson for Tetyana Krasykova, who is a member of “The Transparent Power” committee and one of Hrach`s main rivals in the upcoming elections. The decision to cancel Hrach’s candidacy made by the Election Committee is final and cannot be appealed. Hrach called the decision a political one and has appealed to the Supreme Court of Ukraine. He has organized a meeting in Simferopil` and is touting his ability to hamper the elections on the peninsula. He has promised to run for the presidential elections in 2004. As well, the Crimean Election Committee has cancelled the registration of 30 of Hrach`s opponents. This happened on the 27th of February, and among them there are a number of influential Crimean politicians, including Serhiy Kunitsyn, a former ARC prime minister, Andriy Senchenko, “The Transparent Power” Committee Chairman, Serhiy Vilizhanskiy, an ex ARC prime minister deputy and Il`mi Umerov, one of the leading members of the Crimean Tatar parliament (Medzhlis). The Crimean communists accused them of forging signatures on their registration documents. Local experts consider the decision of the Crimean Elections Committee, which is under Hrach’s control, as his measure of revenge. The material published in the Newsletter may not be reproduced without consent of the publisher. The views expressed in the Newsletter are not necessarily the views of the publisher.
EastWest Institute	New York · Prague · Kyiv · Moscow · Belgrade· Brussels