UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT SETS UP GROUP TO LOOK INTO ATTACK ON VITRENKO... The Supreme Council on 5 October set up a special commission of 16 lawmakers to investigate the 2 October grenade attack on presidential candidate Natalya Vitrenko. Prosecutor-General Mykhaylo Potebenko told the parliament the same day that the attack on Vitrenko was masterminded by Serhiy Ivanchenko, a campaign organizer for Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz. The police arrested two suspects immediately after the attack and spotted Ivanchenko in Rostov Oblast, Russia, but failed to detain him. Meanwhile, the OSCE has issued a statement saying that the attack is a "horrible crime" and "fully contradicts the spirit and letter of OSCE principles for free elections." JM

...OVERRIDES KUCHMA'S VETO ON ELECTION LAW AMENDMENTS. Also on 5 October, the parliament overrode President Leonid Kuchma's veto on amendments to the presidential election law. One amendment stipulates that every member of the district and territorial electoral commissions be given a copy of the protocol listing voting results. Lawmaker Oleksandr Yelyashkevich urged his colleagues to override the veto by saying that without the above-mentioned amendment, Ukraine will face a "large-scale falsification" of the vote. The same day, the parliament failed to override Kuchma's veto on a bill introducing immunity for local council deputies. JM

SEPTEMBER POLL SAYS KUCHMA STILL TOP HOPEFUL. In a poll conducted from 17-24 September by the Ukrainian Institute of Social Studies and the Social Monitoring Center among 3,079 Ukrainians, 24.8 percent or respondents said they will vote for incumbent President Leonid Kuchma, Interfax reported. Natalya Vitrenko has 12.2 percent support, Petro Symonenko 9.9 percent, Oleksandr Moroz 8.6 percent, Yevhen Marchuk 4.9 percent, Oleksandr Tkachenko 2.8 percent, and Hennadiy Udovenko 1.2 percent. According to the poll, 81.5 percent of respondents want to participate in the ballot, while 14.4 percent said they do not want to. JM