ELECTION NOTEBOOK
by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau
- KYIV - With two weeks left in the election campaign, rival political
parties aren't pulling any punches. In fact, some may be hitting below
the belt.
During the March 15 session of the Verkhovna Rada, Socialist
Party National Deputy Mykola Rudkovskyi took the podium and accused Chairman
Volodymyr Lytvyn of taking part in ordering the murder of journalist Heorhii
Gongadze and blocking the investigation for five years.
"I am convinced that Volodymyr Lytvyn is liable to
a criminal investigation and removal of his diplomatic immunity, considering
that all the evidence linking his involvement to the crime is among the
Verkhovna Rada investigation committee's official documents," Mr.
Rudkovskyi declared.
At one point, Mr. Lytvyn interrupted Mr. Rudkovskyi's speech
and advised him not to use the Parliament's podium to "spit all over
a person, when there has already been a court decision."
A court had ruled in January that statements made by former
Kuchma security officer Mykola Melnychenko accusing Mr. Lytvyn of taking
part in Gongadze's murder were baseless.
"Toward which Europe are you going?" Mr. Lytvyn
asked Mr. Rudkovskyi, mockingly referring to the Socialist Party's slogan,
"Building Europe in Ukraine." He added, "If you want to
build Europe in Ukraine, first learn to respect you own people."
Mr. Rudkovskyi called the court "prejudiced,"
stating that it neglected to review documents and materials produced by
experts, the investigating committee and the Procurator General's Office.
As Mr. Rudkovskyi made his accusations, U.S. asylum winner
Mr. Melnychenko sat in the Rada's loge. He later told reporters he was
there to look Mr. Lytvyn in the eyes.
Mr. Melnychenko is a close ally of Oleksander Moroz, the
leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine and Mr. Lytvyn's top rival for
the Rada chairman's position.
In the 2006 elections, Lytvyn's People's Bloc and the Socialist
Party are heated rivals battling for the same electorate: rural voters
throughout Ukraine and central Ukrainians voters who support none of the
three leading political blocs.
- KYIV - The battle between the Party of the Regions and Our Ukraine
bloc turned nasty when Regions campaign chief Yevhen Kushnariov accused
the latter of producing a propaganda film against his party that contained
subliminal images of a frightening skull.
At a March 14 press conference, Mr. Kushnariov displayed
images of the blue skull, which he alleged was displayed five times during
the program, "Menace, the Scary Truth."
Each time, the skull image was displayed for three flash
frames against the audio sound of chattering teeth, Mr. Kushnariov said.
The Party of the Regions had two independent experts review
the video and confirm the presence of the subliminal images, which Mr.
Kushnariov said played on the subconscious of television viewers.
The party has submitted its concerns to the Central Elections
Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,
he said.
"Menace, the Scary Truth," which aired on March
10 on the UT-1 public broadcasting network, explored the lurid criminal
history of the Donetsk clans during the 1990s, indirectly linking them
to the Party of the Regions.
It also featured Our Ukraine supporters in Donetsk attesting
to attacks they continue to endure from Party of the Regions campaigners,
as well as images of Regions cohorts setting orange flags and campaign
literature on fire as recently as February 2006.
The politically motivated program ran under the broadcasting
quotas that distribute television airtime to competing parties.
- KYIV - Ukraine's political parties have spent more than $1 billion
on advertising during the 2006 parliamentary campaign, said Oleksander
Chekmyshev, the chair of the Rivnist Mozhlyvostey election monitoring organization.
The irony is that government funding of district election
commissions, including salaries, is so inadequate that its employees will
have to work in extreme conditions of discomfort and pressure, he said.
District election commission workers earn $10 a day for their work.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March
19, 2006, No. 12, Vol. LXXIV
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