As the world’s eyes focus on Sunday’s match in the fight for a fresh Ukrainian parliament, the government has largely tried to assure outsiders in the days leading up to the polls that the rules of the game will be fairly played. However, reports of electoral violations, with voter buyouts and bribery out on the campaign trails, have also put into question whether international observer groups will ultimately deem the elections democratic and genuine.
As part of Ukraine’s efforts to ensure the elections meet international standards, officials have welcomed thousands of international observers, stationed webcams throughout polling stations in the country to aid in transparency, and equipped them with locked boxes to prevent any sort of ballot fraud.
"These elections are the calmest we've seen,” Mikhail Okhendovskyy, member of Ukraine’s Central Election Commission (CEC), told Diplomatic Courier. “There hasn't been any systematic violations, a few isolated incidents but nothing systematic.”
Much is at stake for the former Soviet republic, where a smooth outcome would offer a chance to gain footing amongst the European Union (EU) arena as well as a boast to their self-image. Ukraine has been pushing for an accord in the Association Agreement with the EU in a bid to bring their country one step closer to EU membership. The EU sees a credible Ukrainian electoral process as a prerequisite for the Association Agreement.
But countries like Germany have said they will block an agreement from ever happening as long as former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko—and rival of Yanukovich's Party of the Regions—remains jailed. Convicted last year, Tymoshenko is currently serving a seven-year sentence for allegedly signing a gas deal with Russia in 2010. Yanukovych’s government called the incident an abuse of power and said the brokered deal left Ukraine with a hefty price tag. Tymoshenko’s supporters have argued that the trial was politically motivated, and as the West calls for her release, the issue has become the backdrop of Sunday’s polls.
In a joint New York Times op-ed published on October 24, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton voiced concerns over Tymoshenko’s continued imprisonment and “worrying trends” raised from the latest interim report by the election observation mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. The report, which covered activities from September 29 to October 14, noted “abuse of administrative resources by some official bodies (which) is the subject of widespread allegations and has been observed or verified by long-term observers in more than 20 instances in a dozen oblasts.”
There were additional cases of threats or physical attacks made on the candidates and campaign workers, along with 25 complaints alleging campaign violations and indirect vote buying, OSCE further revealed. Complaints of “Black PR” — fake campaign materials were being printed out on behalf of a party of candidate — were evident as well.
How far those efforts impacted Ukrainians will all boil down to Sunday as they cast their votes in an atmosphere of nearly 4,000 international election observers who are registered to oversee Election Day, according to the CEC. Early polling data showed the Party of Regions with approximately 27 percent of support, according to a September 27 – October 9 survey by international polling company, Research & Branding Group. At least four exit polls are expected to be carried out on Sunday to offer the initial assessment of voting patterns in order to make sure they are in-line with the final tallies.
Webcams, a confidence-building measure for voters headed to the polls, can also be watched by the general public, and will be a key tactic for international observers, Okhendovskyy said. With the entire counting process recorded, any problems arising at the polls can be dealt with respectively, he said.
He also spotlighted a new voter registration system that will be automatically updated, so that each eligible voter that is on the list in their precinct will be counted only once. Meanwhile, Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, called the parliamentary election a “litmus test of Ukraine‘s democratic credentials” in Brussels on Friday.
Once the EU receives the preliminary report from international observers, which is set for Monday, Kocijancic said they would react publicly to Sunday’s match. EU foreign ministers are then expected to discuss the Ukrainian electoral conduct at a meeting set for November 19. And it will be that bloc which will pack in the final punch.
Photo: Bohan Shen 沈伯韩 (cc).
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Fighting Fair in Ukraine’s Elections
October 26, 2012
As the world’s eyes focus on Sunday’s match in the fight for a fresh Ukrainian parliament, the government has largely tried to assure outsiders in the days leading up to the polls that the rules of the game will be fairly played. However, reports of electoral violations, with voter buyouts and bribery out on the campaign trails, have also put into question whether international observer groups will ultimately deem the elections democratic and genuine.
As part of Ukraine’s efforts to ensure the elections meet international standards, officials have welcomed thousands of international observers, stationed webcams throughout polling stations in the country to aid in transparency, and equipped them with locked boxes to prevent any sort of ballot fraud.
"These elections are the calmest we've seen,” Mikhail Okhendovskyy, member of Ukraine’s Central Election Commission (CEC), told Diplomatic Courier. “There hasn't been any systematic violations, a few isolated incidents but nothing systematic.”
Much is at stake for the former Soviet republic, where a smooth outcome would offer a chance to gain footing amongst the European Union (EU) arena as well as a boast to their self-image. Ukraine has been pushing for an accord in the Association Agreement with the EU in a bid to bring their country one step closer to EU membership. The EU sees a credible Ukrainian electoral process as a prerequisite for the Association Agreement.
But countries like Germany have said they will block an agreement from ever happening as long as former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko—and rival of Yanukovich's Party of the Regions—remains jailed. Convicted last year, Tymoshenko is currently serving a seven-year sentence for allegedly signing a gas deal with Russia in 2010. Yanukovych’s government called the incident an abuse of power and said the brokered deal left Ukraine with a hefty price tag. Tymoshenko’s supporters have argued that the trial was politically motivated, and as the West calls for her release, the issue has become the backdrop of Sunday’s polls.
In a joint New York Times op-ed published on October 24, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton voiced concerns over Tymoshenko’s continued imprisonment and “worrying trends” raised from the latest interim report by the election observation mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. The report, which covered activities from September 29 to October 14, noted “abuse of administrative resources by some official bodies (which) is the subject of widespread allegations and has been observed or verified by long-term observers in more than 20 instances in a dozen oblasts.”
There were additional cases of threats or physical attacks made on the candidates and campaign workers, along with 25 complaints alleging campaign violations and indirect vote buying, OSCE further revealed. Complaints of “Black PR” — fake campaign materials were being printed out on behalf of a party of candidate — were evident as well.
How far those efforts impacted Ukrainians will all boil down to Sunday as they cast their votes in an atmosphere of nearly 4,000 international election observers who are registered to oversee Election Day, according to the CEC. Early polling data showed the Party of Regions with approximately 27 percent of support, according to a September 27 – October 9 survey by international polling company, Research & Branding Group. At least four exit polls are expected to be carried out on Sunday to offer the initial assessment of voting patterns in order to make sure they are in-line with the final tallies.
Webcams, a confidence-building measure for voters headed to the polls, can also be watched by the general public, and will be a key tactic for international observers, Okhendovskyy said. With the entire counting process recorded, any problems arising at the polls can be dealt with respectively, he said.
He also spotlighted a new voter registration system that will be automatically updated, so that each eligible voter that is on the list in their precinct will be counted only once. Meanwhile, Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, called the parliamentary election a “litmus test of Ukraine‘s democratic credentials” in Brussels on Friday.
Once the EU receives the preliminary report from international observers, which is set for Monday, Kocijancic said they would react publicly to Sunday’s match. EU foreign ministers are then expected to discuss the Ukrainian electoral conduct at a meeting set for November 19. And it will be that bloc which will pack in the final punch.
Photo: Bohan Shen 沈伯韩 (cc).
