Lviv: uncertainty mixed with expectation (03/29/98)

GAUGING THE MOOD OF UKRAINE'S VOTERS

ON THE EVE OF ELECTIONS

Lviv: uncertainty mixed with expectation

by Marta Dyczok
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

LVIV - The weather seems to be reflecting pre-election attitudes in Lviv, the unofficial capital city of western Ukraine. Winter and spring are struggling for dominance, with the sun and clouds taking turns. Snow falls occasionally, only to disappear within hours and then re-appear.

Uncertainty is mixed with expectation. "I think people will go out and vote," said Taras Hladiak, graduate student of philosophy at Lviv University. "The public information campaign explaining the new electoral law has been very effective, and I think many people will want to see how it works in practice."

Like all cities in Ukraine, Lviv is plastered with election posters - all shapes, sizes and colors. Politicians stroll the streets, smiling and talking to people. "What beautiful flowers," Viktor Pynzenyk, head of the Reform and Order Party, said to a friend and I as we walked past the Potocki Palace in the city center.

The upcoming election is a constant topic of conversation, but with so many parties to choose from, people appear uncertain for whom to vote. "I haven't quite decided which party will get my vote," admitted history student Yurii Tybinka, "although I do like the strong personalities of (Yevhen) Marchuk and (Leonid) Kravchuk. My parents will be voting for Rukh and we'll probably still talk about this more."

Support for democrats and Rukh is a given in Lviv, but not all parties are expecting to do well in the western regions. Only 23 out of 30 parties have opened campaign offices in Lviv; the Communist Party has only a post office box and phone number.

Candidates are using various electioneering gimmicks. Theater director Yaroslav Fedoryshyn, who is running for office at the city council level, has been staging free performances of the play "The Road to Damascus." Before each show he addresses the mixed crowd of pensioners, trendy theater goers and students, who can rarely afford tickets these days. "I am not going to tell you whom to vote for," he says.

Then Mr. Fedoryshyn proceeds to talk about his theater group, Renaissance, (Vidrodzhennia), which markets itself as a Christian troupe. Appropriately, the director is running as a candidate from the Christian-Social bloc "Hope" (Nadiia).

When asked how he plans to run a theater while an elected municipal official, he casually answered, "This will not be a problem. I will have to attend a city council meeting once every three months."

A cynical voter quipped, "I bet he'll make sure that the theatre has heating."