First candidates' roundtable spotlights presidential hopefuls (09/26/99)

First candidates' roundtable spotlights presidential hopefuls

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - It lacked the polish of a candidates' roundtable to which U.S. voters are accustomed, but the first such event in Ukraine in the 1999 presidential campaign season provided more earnestness and emotion than anything Americans are used to.

Sponsored by the Federation of Trade Unions and held on September 21 in the modest main hall of its headquarters on the Khreschatyk, Kyiv's main boulevard, the roundtable contained little dazzle and less pomp. Nonetheless, it was the first time that this number of candidates or their anointed representatives gathered in one place to discuss the worthiness of their individual platforms.

All 15 candidates were invited to speak before the federation's ruling council and representatives from the various trade unions under its umbrella prior to making a decision on whom to endorse. Only Vasyl Onopenko from the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party failed to appear or send a representative.

The candidates, seated in a half circle before coffeetables adorned with floral arrangements on a simple stage about the size found in a typical U.S. high school, took their turn at the podium in alphabetical order. They were given seven minutes each to pitch their platform and themselves.

The audience, which numbered some 400, made it clear from the outset that Socialist Party candidate Oleksander Moroz and Yevhen Marchuk, the former prime minister nominated by a coalition of right-oriented parties, were their favorites. Both were greeted by rousing applause and shouts of support, first when they were announced and later as they rose to speak.

President Leonid Kuchma, the candidate the federation is most seriously considering supporting in the October election, sent a representative, as did Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksander Tkachenko and Rukh Party nominee Hennadii Udovenko.

The president could not attend because he was on an official visit to the Sumy region of Ukraine. Mr. Tkachenko was absent because he was directing the Tuesday session of the Verkhovna Rada, while Mr. Udovenko sent a replacement because he was in New York to attend the opening of the United Nations General Assembly.

Although the presence of the president and the Parliament chairman, who have increasingly taken serious verbal potshots at one another, undoubtedly would have added considerably to the tart verbal slinging that occurred, even without them there was enough criticism, spice and controversial pronouncements to go around. And, as has become commonplace in this election, Mr. Kuchma was the target of much of what was flung.

Yurii Karmazin, nominee from the Defense of the Homeland Party, accused the current government of not being able to account for $150 million that was to be spent on the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline and another $20 million allocated for the construction of the Odesa Oil Terminal.

He said the oil transport system that the presential administration is constructing has no concrete purpose at present and that its future need is highly dubious.

"The oil pipeline and the terminal are being built only to siphon off money," said Mr. Karmazin.

Mr. Marchuk, the former KGB official and first head of Ukraine's State Security Service, said that between five and seven "family clans" run many of Ukraine's economic sectors, including the liquor industry, "which are concerned about their own interests and not the interests of the country."

"It is a lie that there is not enough money to pay back wages and pensions," said Mr. Marchuk. "We need to stem the stealing first."

Socialist candidate Mr. Moroz, who specifically stated that he fully supports the trade union council's proposals for a continued strong social safety net that subsidizes housing and free medicine, also criticized the crony capitalism that has taken hold in Ukraine.

"Thousands of factories are idle, the village is disintegrating, there is no sugar, there may soon be no bread, and there is no oil in the heads of many of our leaders," said Mr. Moroz, who received the heartiest round of applause after finishing his presentation with a short poem he penned. The poem's last line read: "We are a nation, we no longer are slaves."

Most of the other candidates also threw whammies the president's way in one sense or another.

Cherkasy Mayor Volodymyr Oliinyk, who is running as an independent, said Ukraine is suffering from a morality crisis in its government. Communist candidate Petro Symonenko said that the country today finds itself in a "catastrophic situation." Ivan Anotenko, who spoke for Mr. Tkachenko, expressed his horror at "the state of our democracy" and accented the decline of life expectancy and health.

"People are dying before they get to their pension years. Why do we even need a Pension Fund?" said Mr. Anotenko.

President Kuchma's representative, Volodymyr Polichenko, did not attempt to deflect the criticism. In a dry, unemotional and short statement, during which he read prepared remarks from the president, Mr. Polichenko listed the accomplishments of the current administration, which included stemming inflation and stabilizing the hryvnia, the repayment of pension and wage arrears, an increase in the minimum monthly wage and pension, and potential economic growth in 2000.

It was Natalia Vitrenko who really turned the heat up towards the end of the nearly three-hour affair. Because she arrived late she was moved to the back of the sequence of speakers, but managed to wake everybody up by directing her criticism away from where it had been directed by many of the others and towards the crowd itself.

"I don't think that you came here to listen to the various candidate's programs. You already have made up your minds to support the current president," said Ms. Vitrenko as a sudden hush fell over the audience.

Then, as catcalls and derisive shouts emanated from various points in the hall, she continued by criticizing the federation's leader, National Deputy Oleksander Stoyan, who is the head of the Verkhovna Rada's Committee on Social Protection, for cooperating with President Kuchma.

"We supported pension and salary increases, and those bills were killed by Stoyan," said Ms. Vitrenko.

After giving a quick rundown on what needs to be done to fix Ukraine's economy, which she said also includes ceasing cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, Ms. Vitrenko, with a cat-like smirk on her face, not only left the podium, but the stage and the auditorium as well.

Although all the candidates were long on rhetoric and short on the specifies of their individual and party platforms, several made concrete proposals.

National Deputy Volodymyr Fialkovskyi, who stood in for Green Party nominee Vitalii Kononov, the third candidate who sent an emissary, proposed a two-currency system for Ukraine: a soft hryvnia for day-to-day transactions and a "gold hryvnia" for banking and international monetary transactions, which he said would be tied to the Euro.

Yurii Kostenko, the candidate from the splinter Rukh organization, announced that if he was elected he would immediately undertake an extensive administrative reform program, followed by land reform that would give people the right to buy and sell what they owned and then a pension reform program to realign the system to serve those who most need it.

Communist nominee Mr. Symonenko offered the most complete and detailed vision of his plans. If elected he said he would re-establish the military-industrial complex in Ukraine, and nationalize the energy sector, as well as the liquor and tobacco industry. He would greatly restrict the freedom of commercial banks and international monetary transactions, and would tightly regulate reports and international trade. Mr. Symonenko said he would stop all cooperation with NATO and the IMF.

"Today I don't believe the choice is between a better or worse president, it is a choice of which political course and which political philosophy will guide us into the future," said Mr. Symonenko.

In the end, the delegates and council members of the federation who had come to listen and then choose a candidate could not do so. After the speeches the federation members discussed the merits of the individual candidates and decided that each trade union should decide whom to support individually.

If the elections go to a second round, the presidium of the federation will gather before the date set for the run-off to develop a strategy and perhaps endorse a single candidate.

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