ELECTION WATCH (08/22/04)

ELECTION WATCH

Mukachiv election investigation continues

KYIV - The Procurator-General's Office has opened a criminal case in connection with the falsification of more than 2,500 election ballots and election-commission protocols in an April 18 mayoral election in Mukachiv, Transcarpathian Oblast, Interfax reported on August 16. Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc claimed in April that the local authorities rigged the vote in favor of a candidate supported by the Social Democratic Party-United, which is led by presidential administration chief Viktor Medvedchuk. Procurator-General's Office spokesman Serhiy Rudenko said that a subsequent "expert examination established that the protocols of eight district commissions [in Mukachiv] were signed not by commission members but by other persons," Interfax reported. Mr. Rudenko added that the investigators' task is to determine who those "other persons" are. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yushchenko collects required signatures

KYIV - The election staff of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko has collected 1.5 million signatures in support of his presidential bid, the "Ukrayinska pravda" website reported on August 18, citing the election staff's press service. A registered candidate for the October 31 election must submit at least 500,000 signatures in support of his or her candidacy to the Central Election Commission by September 20. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Presidential hopefuls tour regions

KYIV - Major candidates in the October 31 presidential election continue to visit Ukrainian regions to present their campaign platforms, Interfax reported on August 16. Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko will travel to Crimea on August 17-19; Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko, who is currently visiting Kherson, will return to Kyiv on August 17 and then visit Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, and Chernihiv; Socialist Party head Oleksandr Moroz will travel to Poltava, Vinnytsya, and Odesa later this week. Prime Minister and presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych is currently with the Ukrainian Olympic team in Athens, from where he will return to Kyiv on August 17. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yushchenko staff starts 'legal war'

KYIV - The election staff of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, who heads the opposition Our Ukraine bloc, has filed 73 complaints with the Central Election Commission about violations of the law in the ongoing presidential election campaign, Interfax reported on August 12. If the Central Election Commission fails to pay attention to these complaints, Mr. Yushchenko's staff has pledged to submit them to the Supreme Court. "We are starting a legal war," Our Ukraine lawmaker Mykola Katerynchuk told journalists. According to Mr. Yushchenko's election staff, the most frequent violations concern the use of government officials to campaign for Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and officials and managers of enterprises applying pressure on voters to support Mr. Yanukovych. Yushchenko campaigners also demanded that Mr. Yanukovych either resign from his post of prime minister or withdraw from the presidential race, charging that he is unfairly taking advantage of the large media attention he receives as the head of government. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Our Ukraine reports road incident ...

KYIV - A KamAZ truck on a road from Kherson to Novooleksiyivka in southern Ukraine on August 12 tried three times to push presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko's car off the road as Mr. Yushchenko, who was driving, wanted to overtake the truck, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported on August 13, citing the Our Ukraine press service. Mr. Yushchenko's associates, who were traveling with him in a column of cars, detained the truck and called the traffic police. According to the Our Ukraine press service, the police released the truck driver in the morning of August 13 "without obtaining any explanations from him" with regard to the incident. "Despite the [police] report about the quick release of the driver, police officers were 'working' on him all night long, and there are reasons to fear that this incident will be used as a provocation against Yushchenko," the Our Ukraine press service added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

...as police tell a different story

KYIV - The Internal Affairs Ministry press service told Interfax on August 13 that, according to what the KamAZ truck driver told the police, he was detained on August 12 by people traveling in a column of three cars, wrongly accused by them of creating a near accident on the road and beaten. After the column drove further, the driver reported the incident to the police. Police officers have established that the people involved in beating the driver were associates of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko. "The cars of Yushchenko and his assistants, while overtaking and blocking the truck, grossly violated road traffic regulations and created an emergency situation," the Internal Affairs Ministry press service said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

UOC-KP will not endorse a candidate

KYIV - The Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate is not going to support any presidential candidate but will be actively urging its believers to take part in the election. Archbishop Dymytrii told a news conference in Kyiv on July 16 that the synod of the Church advised believers to elect a president according to the following criteria. A candidate must have administrative experience, possess high spiritual and moral values, primarily love for his people and the state, take care of Ukraine's sovereignty, its political and economic independence and enhance the spiritual nature of the people on the basis of Christian and common human values. (BBC Monitoring)

Muslims Support Yanukovych

DONETSK - The Party of the Muslims of Ukraine supports the candidacy of Viktor Yanukovych, prime minister of Ukraine, in the presidential elections. Sadyk Bierbierov, head of the Crimean organizing committee of the party, spoke about this at the conclusion of the party convention in Donetsk on July 10. The convention also approved decisions of the party on how to solve problems related to the restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar nation. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

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