With the kind permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, InfoUkes Inc. has been given rights to electronically re-print these articles on our web site. Visit the RFE/RL Ukrainian Service page for more information. Also visit the RFE/RL home page for news stories on other Eastern European and FSU countries.
Return to Main RFE News Page
InfoUkes Home Page
END NOTE: UKRAINE IN TURMOIL AFTER PRESIDENTIAL VOTE xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PROTESTS OVER PRESIDENTIAL VOTE CONTINUE IN KYIV... A crowd estimated to be at least 100,000 strong took part in a rally on Kyiv's Independence Square in the evening of 22 November, protesting what they see as the government's falsification of the previous day's presidential runoff between Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko, Channel 5 reported. Yushchenko told the rally that the authorities stole the victory from him by adding 3.1 million votes to his opponent's total. Yushchenko's backers have pitched some 300 tents along Khreshchatyk, Kyiv's main thoroughfare, and are reportedly determined to stay in them until Yushchenko is declared the country's elected president. The government has said they must be removed. Tens of thousands of Kyiv residents and Yushchenko backers from the provinces began gathering on the square on 23 November for the second consecutive day of antigovernment protests. With 99.38 percent of the vote tallied, the Central Election Commission announced on 22 November that Yanukovych won 49.42 percent of the vote to Yushchenko's 46.7 percent. JM
...AND UKRAINIAN REGIONS. Antigovernment protests in support of Yushchenko took place on 22 November in the cities of Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Lutsk, Ternopil, Vinnytsya, and Khmelnytskyy, Ukrainian news agencies reported. The city councils of deputies in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Vinnytsya adopted resolutions declaring Yushchenko the legal president. According to Channel 5, people from the Ukrainian provinces are coming to Kyiv to reinforce the pro-Yushchenko rally on Independence Square despite police blockades on the Ukrainian roads. JM
OSCE MONITORS DEEM UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL VOTE UNDEMOCRATIC. The OSCE International Election Observation Mission for the Ukrainian presidential runoff said in its preliminary conclusions on 22 November that the vote did not meet a considerable number of democratic election standards, the OSCE website (www.osce.org/) reported. According to the OSCE mission, the Ukrainian executive authorities and the TsVK "displayed a lack of will to conduct a genuine democratic election process." "With an even heavier heart than three weeks ago, I have to repeat the message from the first round -- this election did not meet a considerable number of international standards for democratic elections," Bruce George, coordinator for the OSCE short-term observers, said on 22 November. "The abuse of state resources in favor of the prime minister continued, as well as an overwhelming media bias in his favor." JM
UKRAINIAN PREMIER CALLS FOR CALM. In a prerecorded appeal broadcast by the 1+1 television channel on 22 November, Prime Minister Yanukovych thanked his voters for supporting him in the 21 November presidential runoff, the "Ukrayinska pravda" website (www-all.pravda.com.ua) reported. "You have voted for peace, stability, and democracy," Yanukovych added. Yanukovych assured those who voted for Yushchenko that their "view of the Ukrainian perspective" will be taken into account by "Ukraine's new leadership." "I do not want you [Yushchenko backers] to think that you are losers," Yanukovych noted. "All of us have won, and we will win even more if we preserve tranquility and peace in Ukraine and unity of the entire society." JM
MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT GIVES YAD VASHEM DOCUMENTS ON HOLOCAUST. President Vladimir Voronin, on an official three-day visit to Israel, on 22 November visited the Yad Vashem Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, Flux reported. Voronin gave representatives of the Israeli Holocaust memorial institute documents pertaining to the mass extermination of Jews on what is today Moldovan and Ukrainian territory perpetrated under Romanian and German administration. During his visit, Voronin is to meet with his Israeli counterpart Moshe Katzav, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and other officials. MS
RUSSIA REITERATES OPPOSITION TO CHANGING TRANSDNIESTER NEGOTIATIONS FORMAT. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Chizhov told journalists in Moscow on 22 November that Russia "does not see any need for enlarging the current format of the Transdniester negotiations," Infotag reported. Chizhov said Russia considers the current five-sided format "optimal." The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is to consider at a meeting of its Committee of Ministers next month in Sofia the Declaration of Stability and Security for the Republic of Moldova (DSSM), which Voronin has proposed. It envisages the participation of the United States and the EU in the negotiations as observers. The current five-sided format includes the OSCE, Russia, and Ukraine as mediators, alongside the belligerents -- Moldova and Transdniester representatives. MS
UKRAINE IN TURMOIL AFTER PRESIDENTIAL VOTE
A crowd estimated to number at least 100,000 took part in a rally on Independence Square in Kyiv on the evening of 22 November to protest what they perceive to be government fraud during the previous day's presidential runoff between Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko. With 99.38 percent of the vote tallied, the Central Election Commission (TsVK) had announced earlier in the day that Yanukovych won 49.42 percent of the vote to Yushchenko's 46.7 percent. Meanwhile, Yushchenko told the crowd on Independence Square that by resorting to massive fraud, primarily in Ukraine's eastern regions, the authorities stole 3.1 million votes from him and, consequently, his election victory.
Speaking to some 60,000 people at the same rally earlier in the day, Yushchenko called on Ukrainians to organize popular resistance against the alleged vote fraud and defend what he described as his election victory. In addition, Yushchenko's political ally Yuliya Tymoshenko has called on Ukrainians to launch a nationwide strike. Yushchenko's backers have pitched some 300 tents along Khreshchatyk, Kyiv's main thoroughfare, and have reportedly vowed to stay in them until Yushchenko is declared the country's elected president. There have been also reports that Yushchenko's supporters are coming to Kyiv from the provinces despite police blockades of the roads around the capital and elsewhere in the country, while the authorities are bringing Yanukovych's adherents to Kyiv in busses.
In the meantime, local councilors in several cities in western Ukraine, including Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, have adopted resolutions claiming that they will recognize only Yushchenko as the legitimate president and supporting the opposition call for a general strike. The Kyiv City Council passed a resolution expressing distrust in the Central Election Commission. The opposition has also managed to collect 150 signatures among parliamentary deputies calling for an emergency session on 23 November to discuss the situation in the country and move a vote of no confidence in the commission. It is unclear how such a vote, if passed, could influence the official results of the 21 November ballot. Parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told journalists on 22 November that any resolution of the Verkhovna Rada concerning the Central Election Commission would be merely a "political gesture."
Both Western and domestic independent election monitors have concurred that the 21 November vote in Ukraine was far from democratic. The Committee of Voters of Ukraine (KVU), a nongovernmental electoral watchdog, reported on 21 November that illegal voting by absentee ballot was the biggest problem in the runoff, UNIAN reported. "Our observers have registered more than 100 buses carrying these people [voting illegally], and one can gather that tens of thousands [of people] have voted in this way," KVU head Ihor Popov told journalists.
The KVU also reported numerous incidents of assault on observers and journalists, and even kidnappings. "Up to a dozen people have been kidnapped today by criminal-looking individuals," Popov claimed. Other alleged irregularities included preventing observers, both domestic and international, and journalists from entering polling stations, the use of counterfeit ballots, and the failure to sign or stamp ballot papers by some commission members.
The OSCE International Election Observation Mission for the Ukrainian presidential runoff said in its preliminary conclusions on 22 November that the vote failed to meet a considerable number of democratic standards. According to the OSCE mission, Ukrainian executive authorities and the Central Election Commission "displayed a lack of will to conduct a genuine democratic election process." U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (Republican, Indiana), President George W. Bush's special envoy for the Ukrainian election, charged that the Ukrainian government was involved in a "concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse."
However, the West's remonstrations against the Ukrainian ballot seem to carry little weight with Ukrainian authorities. For them, much more important was the position of the Kremlin, which did not hide its sympathies for Yanukovych during the election campaign. On 22 November, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly congratulated Yanukovych on his election victory, saying that "the battle has been hard-fought, but open and honest."
It appears highly improbable that Ukrainian authorities will yield to the current surge of anti-Yanukovych protests and declare Yushchenko the winner. Two other options appear more likely -- either the authorities will wait with Yanukovych's inauguration until the anti-government rebellion peters out, if the protests prove to be persistent and well attended, the presidential ballot might be declared invalid and incumbent President Leonid Kuchma could continue to rule for another half year in order to prepare for a new election.
Yet, irrespective of the final outcome of the current standoff in Ukraine, it will be problematic, if not impossible, for Kuchma to assure political continuity for his regime, something he repeatedly urged during the election campaign. Ukraine seems to have awakened to a new political life in which millions of people are no longer prepared to mutely endure electoral manipulation, official lies, and autocratic governance.
Seen from this perspective, Ukraine's presidential election of 2004 appears to offer an opportunity unprecedented in Ukraine's 13 years of independence for politicians, from both the pro-Yanukovych and the pro-Yushchenko camps, to practice the difficult art of political compromise in order to ensure the unity of their bitterly divided country.
END NOTE: UKRAINE IN TURMOIL AFTER PRESIDENTIAL VOTE xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PUTIN QUICK TO ACKNOWLEDGE UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER'S PRESIDENTIAL VICTORY... Presidential press spokesman Aleksei Gromov announced on 22 November that President Putin called Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych from Brazil that day to congratulate him on his victory in the second round of Ukraine's presidential election, RIA-Novosti reported (see Ukraine items in today's "RFE/RL Newsline Part 2"). "The race was fierce -- but open and fair -- and the victory is convincing," Gromov quoted Putin as saying. Putin thus became the first foreign leader to acknowledge Yanukovych as the victor in the highly contentious election. VY
...AS RUSSIAN SENATOR SAYS HE IS 'BEWILDERED' BY U.S. REACTION TO UKRAINIAN ELECTION. Federation Council Deputy Chairman Aleksandr Torshin has expressed bewilderment at criticism of Ukraine's 21 November runoff election by U.S. President George W. Bush's representative at the Ukrainian presidential election, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Richard Lugar (Republican, Indiana), RTR reported on 22 November. Lugar on 22 November accused Ukrainian authorities of encouraging fraud in the election. "It is now apparent that a concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse was enacted with either the leadership or cooperation of governmental authorities," Lugar said, AFP reported. Torshin responded to Lugar's remarks by saying in Moscow on 22 November, "Ukraine is not part of Russia, but Kyiv is also not a suburb of Washington. The history of Ukraine is older than yours and ours -- let Ukrainians make their choice by themselves." VY
GUUAM TRADE TURNOVER REACHES $1 BILLION. Trade between the five members of the GUUAM alignment (Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) grew by 24 percent over the first nine months of 2004 compared with the 2003, and now stands at $1 billion, Caucasus Press reported on 22 November, quoting Ukraine's Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Berezniy. LF
UKRAINE IN TURMOIL AFTER PRESIDENTIAL VOTE
A crowd estimated to number at least 100,000 took part in a rally on Independence Square in Kyiv on the evening of 22 November to protest what they perceive to be government fraud during the previous day's presidential runoff between Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko. With 99.38 percent of the vote tallied, the Central Election Commission (TsVK) had announced earlier in the day that Yanukovych won 49.42 percent of the vote to Yushchenko's 46.7 percent. Meanwhile, Yushchenko told the crowd on Independence Square that by resorting to massive fraud, primarily in Ukraine's eastern regions, the authorities stole 3.1 million votes from him and, consequently, his election victory.
Speaking to some 60,000 people at the same rally earlier in the day, Yushchenko called on Ukrainians to organize popular resistance against the alleged vote fraud and defend what he described as his election victory. In addition, Yushchenko's political ally Yuliya Tymoshenko has called on Ukrainians to launch a nationwide strike. Yushchenko's backers have pitched some 300 tents along Khreshchatyk, Kyiv's main thoroughfare, and have reportedly vowed to stay in them until Yushchenko is declared the country's elected president. There have been also reports that Yushchenko's supporters are coming to Kyiv from the provinces despite police blockades of the roads around the capital and elsewhere in the country, while the authorities are bringing Yanukovych's adherents to Kyiv in busses.
In the meantime, local councilors in several cities in western Ukraine, including Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, have adopted resolutions claiming that they will recognize only Yushchenko as the legitimate president and supporting the opposition call for a general strike. The Kyiv City Council passed a resolution expressing distrust in the Central Election Commission. The opposition has also managed to collect 150 signatures among parliamentary deputies calling for an emergency session on 23 November to discuss the situation in the country and move a vote of no confidence in the commission. It is unclear how such a vote, if passed, could influence the official results of the 21 November ballot. Parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told journalists on 22 November that any resolution of the Verkhovna Rada concerning the Central Election Commission would be merely a "political gesture."
Both Western and domestic independent election monitors have concurred that the 21 November vote in Ukraine was far from democratic. The Committee of Voters of Ukraine (KVU), a nongovernmental electoral watchdog, reported on 21 November that illegal voting by absentee ballot was the biggest problem in the runoff, UNIAN reported. "Our observers have registered more than 100 buses carrying these people [voting illegally], and one can gather that tens of thousands [of people] have voted in this way," KVU head Ihor Popov told journalists.
The KVU also reported numerous incidents of assault on observers and journalists, and even kidnappings. "Up to a dozen people have been kidnapped today by criminal-looking individuals," Popov claimed. Other alleged irregularities included preventing observers, both domestic and international, and journalists from entering polling stations, the use of counterfeit ballots, and the failure to sign or stamp ballot papers by some commission members.
The OSCE International Election Observation Mission for the Ukrainian presidential runoff said in its preliminary conclusions on 22 November that the vote failed to meet a considerable number of democratic standards. According to the OSCE mission, Ukrainian executive authorities and the Central Election Commission "displayed a lack of will to conduct a genuine democratic election process." U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (Republican, Indiana), President George W. Bush's special envoy for the Ukrainian election, charged that the Ukrainian government was involved in a "concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse."
However, the West's remonstrations against the Ukrainian ballot seem to carry little weight with Ukrainian authorities. For them, much more important was the position of the Kremlin, which did not hide its sympathies for Yanukovych during the election campaign. On 22 November, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly congratulated Yanukovych on his election victory, saying that "the battle has been hard-fought, but open and honest."
It appears highly improbable that Ukrainian authorities will yield to the current surge of anti-Yanukovych protests and declare Yushchenko the winner. Two other options appear more likely -- either the authorities will wait with Yanukovych's inauguration until the anti-government rebellion peters out, if the protests prove to be persistent and well attended, the presidential ballot might be declared invalid and incumbent President Leonid Kuchma could continue to rule for another half year in order to prepare for a new election.
Yet, irrespective of the final outcome of the current standoff in Ukraine, it will be problematic, if not impossible, for Kuchma to assure political continuity for his regime, something he repeatedly urged during the election campaign. Ukraine seems to have awakened to a new political life in which millions of people are no longer prepared to mutely endure electoral manipulation, official lies, and autocratic governance.
Seen from this perspective, Ukraine's presidential election of 2004 appears to offer an opportunity unprecedented in Ukraine's 13 years of independence for politicians, from both the pro-Yanukovych and the pro-Yushchenko camps, to practice the difficult art of political compromise in order to ensure the unity of their bitterly divided country.