NCSJ Briefs - 11.99

Recent Events in the FSU

We wanted to inform you of a few significant events that have transpired in the former Soviet Union (FSU) over the past several days. Elections in Ukraine and Georgia are testing the appeal of extremist parties, and a tragic incident in Armenia reminds us of the real risks and challenges which the region still faces.

UKRAINE

Ukrainians went to the polls on October 31 to elect a president – but no candidate, including incumbent Leonid Kuchma, gained the 50 percent needed to win. The two candidates who received the most votes, Kuchma with just over 36 percent of the vote and Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko with slightly more than 22 percent, face a runoff election on November 14.

Jewish community leaders in Ukraine did not promote a particular candidate, but rather urged the community to take an active role by voting. NCSJ’s contacts in Kyiv informed us that, in the weeks before the election, various candidates and parties disseminated anti-Semitic pamphlets and leaflets. Some of them targeted the radical candidate, Natalia Vitrenko, of the Progressive Socialist Party, whose father is Jewish (ironically, Vitrenko is herself associated with neo-Nazi groups). Other pamphlets targeted President Kuchma, calling him "President of all Jews" and one newspaper published a caricature of President Kuchma surrounded by his Jewish "friends."

International observers have deemed the election fair, reporting no election violations. But the pre-election campaign was characterized by defamatory publications, alleged burglaries of election offices, and in one instance violence – when two grenades were thrown into a crowd on October 2, wounding Natalia Vitrenko.

Communist and socialist-oriented parties placed well, claiming the second, third and fourth spots in the election. Ukraine’s currency, the hryvnia, depreciated on Monday, after news spread of the strong Communist showing in the election. If elected, Symonenko promises to build socialism and abolish market reform – moves that would alienate the West. If the Communist-oriented candidates unite behind Symonenko, he may prove to be a tough challenger for Kuchma to defeat in the November 14 runoff.

GEORGIA

With most of the October 31 vote for Parliament counted, in what was widely considered a referendum for the reformist government, the ruling Citizens’ Union of Georgia coalition has gained seats. The Parliamentary election was also watched as an early indicator of President Eduard Shevardnadze’s chances for reelection in April 2000. The President congratulated all Georgians on "not only the preliminary results of the elections but also the fact that the Georgian population has demonstrated strong civic consciousness and a strong sense of patriotic responsibility."

Political observers had predicted that the Georgia’s Revival bloc, which advocates a greater Russian presence in Georgia and opposes Shevardnadze’s leadership, would gain enough seats to put it within a few Parliamentary votes of Citizens’ Union. Reformists had feared that low turnout would aid Revival, but the 60-percent turnout – higher than expected – ensured the Citizens’ Union victory. The Georgian Parliament has 150 deputies selected through party lists, and 85 are elected to individual district seats. While Revival did gain seats, it only won 23 percent of the party-assigned seats.

ARMENIA

Following the shocking attack and hostage drama in the Armenian Parliament last Wednesday, NCSJ has been in contact with the Armenian Jewish community in Yerevan. Among the eight officials murdered were Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian and Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchian, with whom NCSJ and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) met in July 1999 during a visit to Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.

At the moment of the attack, members of the Jewish community were meeting elsewhere in Yerevan with Israel’s ambassador to Armenia, who is resident in Tbilisi, Georgia, and who had been scheduled to meet with the Prime Minister the following day. The attack was apparently motivated by rejection of any compromise with Azerbaijan on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, an issue which the NCSJ-AJC delegation had addressed in its meetings in the region. There are no indications that anti-Semitism played any role in this tragic episode.

Last Friday, October 29, NCSJ Director of Governmental Relations Shai Franklin and Director of Community Services and Cultural Affairs Lesley Weiss visited the Armenian Embassy in Washington to express condolences to the Chargé d’Affaires and other diplomats. The new Prime Minister should be appointed within the next few days, after which Parliament will vote on a new government.

We will update you on each of the elections as final results become available, and will continue to report on the situation in Armenia. A fuller briefing on U.S. policy, the upcoming Russian elections and the Jewish community in the FSU will be available at the NCSJ Board of Governors Meeting in Atlanta on November 15. Confirmed speakers include The Honorable Newt Gingrich, Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, and ADL Assistant National Director Kenneth Jacobson. Please contact NCSJ (202-898-2500) for additional details, and to confirm your participation.