Ukraine Parliamentary Vote - 03.27.2006

Yushchenko's Party Suffers Setback in Ukraine Parliamentary Election

News coverage
Helsinki Commission	Apr. 20	From the Maidan to Main Street: Landmark Democratic Elections
Wall Street Journal	Apr. 03	Yushchenko Op-Ed: "A New Era For Ukraine"
Reuters	Mar. 30	Final tally: Yanukovich 32%; Tymoshenko 22%; Yushchenko 14%
JTA	Mar. 28	Jews happy with election, but some hope for crackdown on hate
NY Times	Mar. 28	After Vote, Uncertainty Over Coalition
NY Times	Mar. 27	Reform Leader Suffers Setback
JTA	Mar. 15	Some Ukraine Jews Back Former Communist
Fair Election
FreedomHouse	Mar. 27	European monitors call election 'fair'
AP	Mar. 27	U.S. Says Elections Were Fair
VOA	Mar. 27	International observers hail election
See also:	U.S. Graduates Ukraine From Jackson-Vanik

 

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Wall Street Journal - 04.03.2006

A New Era For Ukraine

Op-Ed: State Of The Union

By Viktor Yushchenko

KIEV -- Freedom triumphed in Ukraine a week ago as citizens voted in elections that international poll monitors judged to be democratic and fair -- not a given for a land that was once part of the Soviet Union. Regardless of the configuration of the next government, the result underscores that Ukraine's course of Euro-Atlantic integration remains on track.

One cannot help but wonder how our history might have been different had the Orange Revolution come a little earlier. My country's return to normalcy is the result of a number of important policies we have implemented since those fateful days in the fall of 2004.

First, we ended government censorship, unleashing rigorous and free media, which for the first time presented all the different political points of view and gave equal airtime to government and opposition candidates. This true competition between the parties sparked tremendous interest among the public, prompting two-thirds of registered voters to participate in the elections.

Second, the campaign and elections were conducted in an environment free of intimidation, fear and outright voter manipulation. This has not always been the case. In the past, candidates were being followed and harassed by police and secret service officials. Phones were tapped and family members of politicians threatened.

In the aftermath of the 2004 presidential election, more than 5,000 officials were prosecuted for falsifying election results. This time, there were strict controls to prevent election officials from abusing their powers. Parties were free to organize rallies and community gatherings without government interference.

Law enforcement agents kept the peace and encouraged people to report troublemakers. The entire election process demonstrated an unwavering commitment to democratic values and respect for civil rights.

This election completes Ukraine's post-Soviet transition. We begin a new chapter in parliamentary democracy and local self-government. Changes to our constitution took effect three months ago, shifting some executive powers, such as nominating the prime minister, from the presidency to parliament.

The essence of these changes is political power-sharing, requiring closer interaction between citizens, parties and government. The new coalition government must be formed two months after the official results are confirmed. Within my constitutional powers as president and commander-in-chief, I will appoint the ministers of foreign affairs and defense.

During discussions with the election winners last week, I suggested that lawmakers must now put aside their narrow political interests and campaign rhetoric and strive to unify the country. Cultural, religious and linguistic differences have no place on the political agenda.

Similarly, federalism and special economic privileges will narrow and not strengthen Ukraine's economic opportunities and competitiveness. To this end, I'd like to see a "stability pact" signed by all parliamentary forces, outlining the general principles of national unity. The harmonious regional and socio-economic development of our country is a common goal upon which all parties should be able to agree.

Then I believe both the new government and the loyal opposition will jointly recognize the political boundaries that stabilize the nation and secure our democratic evolution.

If the post-election period focuses exclusively on a game of musical chairs, where party leaders are more interested in ministerial portfolios and prized legislative committee chairmanships than reaching specific policy goals, then this election's success and the opportunity to move Ukraine forward risk being lost.

Therefore, a parliamentary majority must outline its vision, the specific laws and government programs it wants to pursue, and, most importantly, find the professional staff to deliver results. Voters are expecting no less.

Since the Orange Revolution, new economic horizons have opened for Ukraine. Our trading relations with the United States and the European Union have reached new heights. We hope to join the World Trade Organization this year. We've implemented tough and long-delayed reforms, among them market pricing for energy resources, bank liberalization, and better intellectual property protection.

Expanding domestic consumer demand will continue to be a major source of economic growth and job creation in the short term. Additional steps will be required to upgrade our education, health care and social services systems.

Court reform and the fight against corruption must move forward. Developing our transport infrastructure and expanding energy exploration, production and conservation top our agenda. As do the sale of state assets in public tenders to strategic investors to modernize outdated and under-funded production facilities.

In 2004, we began rebuilding public trust in government, starting a new dialogue that has led to greater openness, new freedoms and a revival of national pride. Voting patterns point to growing support for European democratic values.

Finding the right formula to complete Ukraine's first test in parliamentary democracy and putting together a government will be the major test during the next few weeks.


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Reuters - 03.30.2006

Yanukovich leads in Ukraine with all votes counted


KIEV (Reuters) -- Viktor Yanukovich's Russia-backed Regions Party took first place in Ukraine's parliamentary election with 32.12 percent of the vote after all ballots were counted, the Central Election Commission said on Thursday.

Pro-Western firebrand Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc maintained its strong showing with 22.27 percent, while President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party was third with 13.94 percent.

Two other parties cleared the three percent barrier to enter parliament -- the Socialist party with 5.67 percent and the Communists with 3.66 percent.

None of the five parties will have an outright majority of 226 votes in the 450-seat parliament to be able to govern alone. Under preliminary estimates, the Regions party will have 186 seats, Tymoshenko's bloc will have 129, Our Ukraine will get 81, the Socialists will have 33 and the Communists 21.

Politicians have already launched coalition talks but they are expected to be long and difficult. Parliament has 30 days to form a coalition and another 30 days to appoint the government.


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Jewish Telegraphic Agency - 03.28.2006

Ukrainian Jews happy with election, but some hope for crackdown on hate

By Vladimir Matveyev

KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) -- On Sunday, Larisa Krivovyaz, a Jewish woman in Kiev, spent about an hour waiting to cast her ballot in Ukraine's parliamentary elections. 

Krivovyaz said the voters were lining up at polling stations because "people desire change for the better." 

Whether or not those changes will take place, Jewish leaders across the political spectrum agree that this week's voting was free and fair. 

"I'm very optimistic, and I'm sure the Jewish community will be safe and well" in Ukraine, the chief rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk, Shmuel Kaminetzky, one of the most influential Jewish authorities in the country, said Monday. 

A free election was something Ukraine did not have as recently as the fall of 2004, when Ukrainians rallied in the streets for days to overturn the rigged presidential victory of Viktor Yanukovich. Yanukovich's rival, Viktor Yuschenko, later won a revote. 

With 37 percent of Sunday's votes counted, the story was reversed. Yanukovich's pro-Russian Party of Regions, had won 27 percent of the vote and appeared likely to receive the largest share of votes. 

The bloc of another ex-premier, Yulia Timoshenko, Yuschenko's charismatic former ally, was second with 24 percent, followed by Yuschenko himself -- his party, Our Ukraine, received slightly less than 17 percent. 

Yuschenko's popularity was harmed by a weak economy and the slow pace of reform during his time in office. 

But it seemed likely that a coalition lead by Timoshenko and Yuschenko would be formed to head the government. 

Two of the parties that had officials known as leaders in anti-Semitic propaganda received about one-half percent of the vote together -- and a leading Jewish figure said this was good news for the community. 

"I'm happy that marginal anti-Semitic parties have failed," said Vadim Rabinovich, a business tycoon and the leader of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine and the All-Ukranian Jewish Congress. 

But at least one Ukrainian Jewish leader is calling for any future government to do more to fight anti-Semitism in Ukraine. 

"The insufficient struggle" against "xenophobia and anti-Semitism is the main problem that worries the Jewish community of Ukraine," said Azriel Chaikin, one of Ukraine's chief rabbis. 

Yuschenko was criticized for not doing enough to stop anti-Semitism, particularly at MAUP, a Kiev-based university that regularly publishes anti-Jewish articles and organizes anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist activities. 

The election will have a major impact on Ukraine's future because of constitutional changes that went into effect earlier this year: The new Parliament, known as the Rada, will be the first in post-Communist Ukraine to name the prime minister and appoint key Cabinet members -- both previously prerogatives of the president. 

The Orange coalition -- as the union of pro-Yuschenko parties is known -- is expected to continue with Yuschenko's free market and pro-Western policies. 

Jewish candidates were on many slates, and according to estimates, there will be about 25-35 Jewish members in the next Rada, about the same number as in the current one. 

Many cities had also municipal and mayoral elections on Sunday. 

In two cities, Jewish mayors -- Eduard Gurwitz in Odessa and Vladimir Salda in Kherson -- were expected to win re-election. 

In Israel, only about 500 Ukrainians out of nearly 54,000 eligible Ukrainian voters participated in the elections, according to Igor Timofeev, Ukraine's ambassador to Israel. 

For many of Ukraine's estimated 200,000 to 300,000 Jews, many of whom are elderly, the election posed a choice between the pro-Western Orange parties, and the Party of Regions of Yanukovich, who has especially strong support in the Russian-speaking eastern provinces. 

Jewish preferences mirrored those of Ukrainian citizens in general. 

In western and central Ukraine, most Jewish voters are believed to have voted for Orange parties, while in eastern and southern Ukraine, they are believed to have backed Yanukovich and other opposition forces. 

Jewish leaders generally agree that Jews have no reason to fear any possible coalition. 

"The balance of political powers will be approximately the same. There will be no big changes," Rabinovich said. 

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New York Times - 03.28.2006

After Vote, Ukraine Faces Uncertainty Over Coalition 

By Steven Lee Myers

KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine was in political gridlock on Monday as the parties that led in parliamentary elections jockeyed for advantage to appoint a newly empowered prime minister and government under President Viktor A. Yushchenko.

With no clear winner — and one clear loser — in an election that international observers on Monday declared the country's freest since its independence from the Soviet Union nearly 15 years ago, there appeared to be little chance that a compromise would be found soon.

Mr. Yushchenko, who led the protests in 2004 against a fraudulent presidential election, appeared to have been stunned by the election results, which showed his party trailing in distant third place. With 55 percent of the ballots counted late Monday, his party, Our Ukraine, had only 16 percent of the votes.

In brief remarks, he praised the vote as a victory for Ukraine's infant democracy. But neither he nor his aides discussed in detail the negotiations under way — behind closed doors — over forming a government whose composition could be decisive in carrying out the domestic and foreign policy that Mr. Yushchenko promised when he became president. Among his pledges were to integrate Ukraine into NATO and the European Union and to revive the economy.

Yulia V. Tymoshenko, his former partner and prime minister whose bloc outpolled Mr. Yushchenko's, said on Monday that she remained confident that an alliance could still be formed among what she called the democratic forces that rode the popular uprising of 2004 to power. That coalition splintered last year over policy disputes, ego clashes and mutual accusations of corruption.

"The coalition had and continues to have a chance to be formed," said Ms. Tymoshenko, whose party received 23 percent of the votes, according to the partial results.

The Party of Regions, led by Mr. Yushchenko's rival, Viktor F. Yanukovich, so far has the largest number of votes, at 28 percent. The results underscored the fractured nature of Ukraine's ethnic, social and geographic divisions, as well as the remarkable erosion of support for Mr. Yushchenko, whose popularity has suffered from economic decline and infighting.

In a sign of the bitterness between him and Ms. Tymoshenko, one of her advisers, Hryhory M. Nemyrya, said that Ms. Tymoshenko had called the president after surveys of voters leaving the polls predicted her second-place finish, but that he had not returned the call. Instead, Mr. Yushchenko's office announced in a terse statement that he would meet with the leaders of all the major parties on Tuesday, leaving open the possibility of a coalition that could include Mr. Yanukovich but exclude his erstwhile ally.

At the headquarters of Mr. Yushchenko's party, a spokesman announced at midday that there would be no more announcements or briefings and that the building would close early. 

Ms. Tymoshenko warned against any parliamentary coalition that would include Mr. Yanukovich, whose government was accused of rigging the presidential election that Mr. Yushchenko ultimately won after a repeat second round. She said that would be a return "to square one."


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Associated Press - 03.27.2006

U.S. Says Ukraine Elections Were Fair

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House on Monday commended Ukraine's parliamentary elections even though they were a setback for President Viktor Yushchenko's West-leaning administration.

"All indications are that this appears to be a free and fair election," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "I think that stands in stark contrast to what we saw in Belarus."

"We look forward to working with the government once it is formed," he said, saying that the results so far are preliminary.

Initial returns showed the pro-Russia party led by Viktor Yanukovych taking the largest number of votes, followed by the president's former ally, Yulia Tymoshenko. Yushchenko's party was a distant third.

Yanukovych, whose ballot-stuffing attempt to win the 2004 presidency triggered the Orange Revolution, declared his Party of the Regions victorious.

"If you look back, the Orange Revolution was a powerful example of democracy for people around the world," McClellan said. "And on Sunday the people of Ukraine had the opportunity to cast a ballot in parliamentary elections.

"People of Ukraine are continuing to shape their own future," the White House spokesman said. "The Ukrainian people have shown the world that they are committed to important ideals of economic ideals of economic freedom and democratic progress and open trade. That lays the groundwork for a promising future."


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New York Times - 03.27.2006

Reform Leader Suffers Setback In Ukraine Vote

By Steven Lee Myers

KIEV, Ukraine — President Viktor A. Yushchenko, who led a wave of popular protest to office promising a freer Ukraine aligned with Europe and the United States, suffered a stunning political defeat in parliamentary elections on Sunday, leaving him weakened and his reformist policies in doubt.

Mr. Yushchenko called the vote for a new and newly empowered Parliament "the first fair, democratic elections in Ukraine," and his party appeared to have been routed.

Nearly a year and a half after the protests and international pressure swept Mr. Yushchenko to the presidency, his party fell far behind not only the party of the man he beat for the top job, Viktor F. Yanukovich, but also the party of his former prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, according to an independent survey of voters leaving the polls, announced by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, after voting ended at 10 p.m. on Sunday. 

Mr. Yanukovich's Party of Regions, which the survey showed with 33 percent of the vote, was poised to win the largest bloc of seats in the 450-seat Parliament, but not enough to win control outright. Ms. Tymoshenko's bloc received 22 percent, while Mr. Yushchenko's party, Our Ukraine, trailed in a distant third place, with only 13 percent, according to the survey. 

Mr. Yanukovich, the former prime minister whose supporters were accused of having rigged the presidential race against Mr. Yushchenko in November 2004, declared "a decisive victory," using the sort of language that rallied those against him and his patron, the former president, Leonid D. Kuchma. "Ukraine made its choice," he said. "Its choice is freedom, democracy, stability and confidence in the future."

Mr. Yanukovich's strength is less a reflection of his political successes than it is of the failings of Mr. Yushchenko, whose reputation at home has suffered from one problem after another despite his image abroad as a reform-minded democrat.

His inability to help improve the weak economy and lessen the country's reliance on Russian gas, which caused painful shortages this winter in a price dispute, deeply hurt him. 

The election results set the stage for a period of political jockeying that could last for days or even weeks before a new government is formed. Much will depend on the success of an array of smaller parties that needed to win at least 3 percent of the vote to secure seats. 

The voting was the first electoral test of the sweeping changes Mr. Yushchenko promised during the huge street protests that came to be known as the "Orange Revolution."

If the results of the voter survey hold, the election will underscore the disastrous turnaround in Mr. Yushchenko's political fate, leaving him forced to compromise. 

At stake are Mr. Yushchenko's stated policy goals, including integrating Ukraine into the European Union and NATO. Mr. Yanukovich's party has promised to restore economic stability and forge closer ties with Russia. 

The election has added significance for Ukraine, a country of 47 million on the edge of a newly expanded European Union, because of a political compromise that cleared the way for Mr. Yushchenko's presidency. Under constitutional changes adopted then, the new Parliament will have the power to choose the prime minister and most of the cabinet, though Mr. Yushchenko will retain control over foreign affairs and security ministries.

Mr. Yushchenko's party now faces a choice of whether to repair the fractured coalition with Ms. Tymoshenko, who served as his first prime minister until a falling out amid infighting over policy and accusations of corruption, or possibly to face a hostile government. Together, their parties still drew more votes than Mr. Yanukovich's, according to the voter survey, but her showing increased her leverage in the talks.

Without Ms. Tymoshenko's support, Mr. Yushchenko's only other choice would be an improbable alliance with Mr. Yanukovich. The president remained noncommittal on Sunday, saying in televised remarks that he was considering "all kinds of various combinations." 

Later, though, as the gravity of his party's poor showing became clear, Mr. Yushchenko's aides said they were prepared to revive the "orange" coalition. The mood at the party's headquarters was funereal, despite rock bands that performed on the central square of Kiev, the capital, and videos that evoked the 2004 protests there. 

A scheduled appearance by the current prime minister and leader of the party, Yury I. Yekhanurov, was abruptly canceled without explanation early Monday morning.

Ms. Tymoshenko, by contrast, clearly relished a result that provided a measure of vengeance after her dismissal last September. She said those who supported the Orange Revolution were still a majority — now led by her, her remarks suggested, though she stopped short of declaring her insistence on becoming prime minister again.

"I would not like us to let the people down again," she said.

Although Mr. Yanukovich's party complained of widespread irregularities ahead of Sunday's vote, including names missing from voter lists or Russian ones mistranslated into Ukrainian, there were few immediate reports of fraud or significant disruptions. But long lines formed as voters slogged through a ballot with 45 parties, and a homemade firebomb damaged one polling place in the Kiev region.

For many of those who voted, the significance was not in the results, but in the process. They described a Ukraine that was freer and more democratic, if also unruly and still divided along the same ethnic, social and political lines of 2004.

"It is already a big victory," Mr. Yushchenko said, putting the best face on his party's performance.

The survey of voters was carried out for the Democratic Initiatives Foundation by the Razumkov Center and the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, which is part of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy. Final results are not expected at least until late Monday, and perhaps later. 

Critics of Mr. Yushchenko's performance as president welcomed the freedom of choice.

Maria I. Kompaneyets, 63, said that she voted for Mr. Yanukovich in 2004, but that she had hopes that Mr. Yushchenko would use his popular mandate to improve life in Ukraine, especially the economy and pensions, recurrent complaints among those less well off.

"Nothing changed, at least nothing changed for better, neither in the country nor in our own life," she said, as she voted with her husband, Pyotr. "Of course we had hopes. So much had been said in those days. Who could expect that it would turn out so bad?"

Nikolai Khalip contributed reporting for this article.


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