ACTION ITEM

Congressional resolutions on Ukraine's elections

The October presidential election in Ukraine is critical to the future of Ukraine, U.S.-Ukraine relations, and to the very security of Europe. It is also crucial that all presidential candidates be given equal coverage in the media and full unhindered opportunity to present themselves before the Ukrainian electorate during the election campaign.

Ukrainian Americans, and their friends and supporters, therefore, are urged to call their congressional representatives, both in the House and the Senate, to become co-sponsors of Senate Concurrent Resolution 106, which urges that the presidential election process in Ukraine be carried out in a "democratic, transparent and fair" manner.

In the House of Representatives, House International Relations Committee Chairman Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) has co-sponsored an identically worded resolution - H. Con. Res. 415 - with Helsinki Commission Chairman Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) and Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.). Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) is sponsor of the Senate resolution which is co-sponsored by Commission Ranking Member Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Sen. Joseph R. Biden (D-Del.).

Telephone numbers of senators and representatives may be obtained by calling the Capitol Information Line at (202) 225-3121. Contact information, including e-mail addresses, can also be found by going online through http://www.house.gov and http://www.senate.gov.

For the text of the resolutions and accompanying statements, see the Helsinki Commission website at www.csce.gov, or contact Orest Deychakiwsky at the commission for more information by e-mailing orest.deychak@mail.house.gov.

- Submitted by Ihor Gawdiak president, Ukrainian American Coordinating Council.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 6, 2004, No. 23, Vol. LXXII

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