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Action Ukraine Report

"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
An International Newsletter
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary

"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"

"The major infringement affecting the election results was poor quality
of the electoral registers. According to the CVU's assessments, 10% of
voters who came to polling station were not allowed to vote because of
mistakes in electoral registers." [article six]

"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 04, Number 216
The Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC), Washington, D.C.
Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA), Huntingdon Valley, PA
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net (ARTUIS)
Washington, D.C., SATURDAY, November 13, 2004

-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"

1. "'VOTELESS' SITUATION. THE AUTHORITIES HAVE CHEATED
VOTERS IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE ELECTIONS.
WILL IT BE (DIS) CONTINUED?"
By Lesya Voloshka
Ukrayina Moloda, Kiev, in Ukrainian 10 Nov 04; p 6
BBC Monitoring Service,UK, in English, Thu, Nov 11, 2004

2. CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION REPORT ON
THE 2004 UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Delegation in Ukraine was shocked at the deliberate and widespread
nature of election abuses in the October 31
V. Bandera, Politics-Infoukes, Saturday, November 13, 2004

3. YUSHCHENKO'S CAMPAIGN HQ ALLEGES RIGGING
OF VOTER ROLLS AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RUNOFF
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 11 Nov 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, Nov 11, 2004

4. YUSHCHENKO HEADQUARTERS SAYS PEOPLE CALLING
THEMSELVES ELECTION COMMISSION MEMBERS ARE
COLLECTING PASSPORT DATA OF VINNYTSIA REGION RESIDENTS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 11, 2004

5. UKRAINIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT SAYS KIROVOHRAD
VOTE WAS "LONG, CRUEL SPECTACLE"
Compared to Kirovohrad, Mukacheve was child's play
Interview by Volodymyr Semkiv with:
People's Deputy Volodymyr Yavorivskyy
Ukrayina Moloda, Kiev, in Ukrainian 10 Nov 04; p 5
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, Nov 11, 2004

6. COMMITTEE OF VOTERS OF UKRAINE REPORT ON RESULTS
OF OBSERVATION OF VOTING AND VOTE TABULATION AT
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF UKRAINE ON OCT 31, 2004
Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 12, 2004
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 216: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
========================================================
1. "'VOTELESS' SITUATION. THE AUTHORITIES HAVE CHEATED
VOTERS IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE ELECTIONS.
WILL IT BE (DIS) CONTINUED?"

By Lesya Voloshka
Ukrayina Moloda, Kiev, in Ukrainian 10 Nov 04; p 6
BBC Monitoring Service,UK, in English, Thu, Nov 11, 2004

KIEV - The Ukrainian pro-opposition paper Ukrayina Moloda describes
various methods of illegal voting and rigging allegedly used in the first
round of the Ukrainian presidential election on 31 October. These range
from voting by groups travelling around the regions and multiple voting to
pressure from lecturers on students to make sure they vote for the 'correct'
candidate.

The following is the text of the article by Lesya Voloshka entitled
"'Voteless' situation. The authorities have cheated voters in the first
round of the elections. Will it be (dis) continued?" published by the
Ukrayina Moloda paper on 10 November, p.6; original subheadings
retained:

Two-and-a-half years ago, during the 2002 parliamentary elections, I was
an observer at a constituency in Lviv Region. I remember my notepad full
of angry brief notes like: "Polling station number so-and-so. [Electoral
bloc] For United Ukraine!.. (this meant that a billboard advertising the
"united" block was standing in front of the polling station on election
day).

Or, as I wrote, "polling station in village N. Information on candidates..."
(in its turn this could be interpreted as an absence of information on the
participants in the race). At that moment, things of this kind generated
indignation as a typical example of neglect for the letter of the law. All
this now seems to have happened in a different life or at least in a
different country...

The thing is that the signs of the present period are not campaigning
materials unintentionally 'forgotten' in front of a voter, but, for example,
a pack of protocols signed by all members of the local commission which
had been demonstrated by [opposition presidential candidate] Viktor
Yushchenko at a post-electoral rally: anybody's victory can be inserted
there ("even an orangutan", as people used to joke in the times of
[president Leonid] Kuchma and [head of the Central Electoral
Commission Mykhaylo] Ryabets).

The signs of the present period are also almost a kilometre-long queues
to courts to which masses of voters apply to assert their records in the
lists. Actually, the signs of the present period are things which we could
not even have dreamed of in 2002 and which will be described below,
though the detailed register of all unfair and dirty election techniques
applied on 31 [October] is presented here not for the self-consolation
of those cheated by the authorities, but for preparing ourselves for the
new round of the elections. This means a new round of falsifications.
Anyway, Ukrainians are not goats [as stated in public by the prime
minister Viktor Yanukovich], and their leaders are not orangutans.

THIS IS THE WAY THE LISTS WERE TAMPERED WITH
ALONG WITH MISTAKES
The first round of the presidential elections has already produced a
brand-new system of terminology system. Besides 'temnyky' [media
overage instructions allegedly issued by the presidential administration]
which have already lost their gloss of novelty, 'dead souls', 'tourists',
'migrants' have emerged - the words in their new 'situational electoral'
meanings.

The FIRST of them, 'dead souls', is related to the plot which is unlikely to
have been twirled by the late Nikolay Gogol [19th century Russian writer
of Ukrainian origin, author of the novel "Dead Souls"]. This is another
modernist technique of these elections, and in order to understand it
better, let us first focus on the 'eternal' characteristic of the 2004
elections - distorted voters' lists.

The lists contained THREE kinds of irregularities: (1) inclusion of 'dead
souls' into the lists; (2) failure to include the individuals residing on
the territory of this constituency and having the voting right, who for
unknown reason had not been included on the lists; (3) spelling mistakes
in names and surnames which have rendered voting impossible. As the
result of manipulation with the lists, up to 10 per cent of voters have
not managed to vote.

However, there was a certain number of people who managed to make
corrections at the polling stations before the elections or had their names
included on the lists through courts (as we know, courts have considered
42 thousand complaints altogether), but this is a very small number in
comparison to those who had not managed to vote.

Who is responsible for the preparation of voters' lists? The lists are
prepared by the local authorities, to be more precise, by the executive
committees of local councils, and they are the ones who sign voters' lists
and then convey them to territorial electoral commissions. Then the lists
are further conveyed to local commissions, where they should be made
more accurate. The law does not specify the way to make them more
accurate. It is clear that, besides this, commissions have a lot of other
things to do.

Thus, the first global falsification has happened because of the local
authorities. In this case, the source of their information - passport
offices, local housing departments, or elsewhere - is of no importance.
(By the way, local housing departments used to comply quite correct
lists, because the information on municipal utilities payers is received
there, and local officials are consequently aware of all names and
surnames).
"DEAD SOULS"
However, responsibility for the preparation of voters' lists is lifted from
the local authorities before the second round of the elections. All voters'
lists are currently kept packed at the territorial electoral commissions. As
soon as the second round of the elections is announced by the Central
Electoral Commission, territorial electoral commissions immediately take
these lists out and prepare them for the second round taking into account
all the complaints they had received. Those included on the lists through a
decision by a territorial electoral commission or court, automatically
'flow' into new lists.

Of course, those who voted on the basis of off-list coupons are not taken
into account, as no one knows where they will vote for the second time.
This is why the territorial commissions convey the lists to local
commissions again, and they make them more accurate once more. It is
desirable for voters to come there and to see whether they have been
included on the lists and whether their 'clones', or 'dead souls' according
to our new terminology, have been excluded.

Where do the latter originate from? The thing is that when a voter (whose
name was misspelt) was included on the list after the relevant court
decision, his name was written down at the bottom of the list (or was not
written down at all, if a person simply decided to return home and not fight
for his voting right). In any case, another name with mistakes remained in
the list - and this is the way of 'multiplying' the 'dead souls'. Pencil
notes were made in many commissions in cases when a certain name had
been indicated incorrectly, but then it was quite easy to erase such note.

Some time later commission members issued off-list coupons to 'dead
souls'... Experts asked by UM say that pulling bulletins in packs is not an
issue of today any more, 'dead souls' work better. The main point
emphasized by them with regard to this is that new voters' lists will be
available at the commissions on 13 November, and it is necessary to
check them.
THE CANDIDATE IS OUT....THE BULLETIN IS OUT TOO
After the mess with the lists, invalidating ballots has the 'honorary second
position' among violations. There have also been two 'types' of this. For
example, the situation in Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk and Odessa regions was
like this: certain officials had phoned commissions and said that some
candidates had withdrawn their candidacies. Let us note that the
administrative authorities, but not territorial electoral commissions, were
the ones who communicated this, and in most cases 'misinformation'
concerned [minor presidential candidates Mykhaylo] Brodskyy, [Ihor]
Dushyn and [Mykola] Rohozhynskyy.

Of course, the questions concerning the reasons for the failure to check
the information at the territorial electoral commissions and the immediate
invalidation of almost half of the ballots by putting the stamp "Candidate
is out", should be addressed to commissions. Some polling stations have
managed to invalidate almost all ballots by the morning of 31 [October].

Voters are coming at eight to vote, but there is shortage of 'right'
ballots, and the local commission urgently contacts the Central Electoral
Commission, the Central Electoral Commission starts printing additional
ballots and sends them by air... However, there were certain polling
stations where some voters received uninvalidated ballots, others - the
ones from which Brodskyy and Dushyn had been excluded - got nothing
because no more ballots had remained...

The situation was different when commission members refused to sign
ballots. According to the law, each commission member should sign in the
ballot, but in some cases commission members did not do this. Voters
were unaware of these details, they took ballots without signatures, voted
with them, and then it turned out that such ballots were invalid. There was
2 per cent of unsigned ballots at one polling station in Kiev, and due to
this the proposal was made to recognize the elections as invalid, but we
still do not know whether this initiative was further pursued.
'TOURISTS' AND 'MIGRANTS'
'Tourists' and 'migrants' make a great difference. Those who voted with
off-list coupons and did nothing else during election day, were referred to
in these elections as 'migrants' (there were a lot of 'migrants' in Eastern
and Central Ukraine, especially in Donetsk and Kirovohrad regions).
Meanwhile, 'tourists' are observers, and a lot of them were transported
from the east to the west, allegedly to ensure more transparent elections
in the Western region which supports Yushchenko.

In particular, UM has been told by the Ukrainian Voters' Committee
that it is very difficult to count the total number of 'tourists'. Those who
financed these raids are unknown, but it obviously would have been
impossible to organize them without the consent of [state railway
transportation department] Ukrzaliznytsya.

Large sums of money have been spent for this, but formally this is not a
violation of the law, in this case one can speak only of the excessive
expenditure of Yanukovych's headquarters. There are reports that
'tourists'-observers are now besieging the headquarters of the candidate
backed by the authorities demanding money: timely payments have not
been made to all the observers. Experts note that this action was
unjustified from Yanukovych's side, because immense funds had been
spent, while the effect has turned out to be minimal.
A PEN IN A SLEEVE IS AN OLD TRICK
UM has asked the Voters' Committee about violations of the election
process considered by its observers to be the most exotic ones. For
example, the one with a pen hidden in a sleeve of the commission head,
who used it for making some marks on a ballot, thus invalidating it.
Committee members say: "This is an outdated trick. We are aware of it,
but we have not registered it in these elections. There were numerous
violations of different kind. In this case, it is also necessary to speak
about the cases which happened before voting day. Let us recall the
exclusion of opposition representatives from the commissions.

This phenomenon was very widespread in Kirovohrad, Odessa and
other regions. Decisions of this kind were often adopted without
motivation, there was no quorum, and the majority of them have
already been recognized by the courts as unlawful. But there were
also cases when commission members were excluded just before
the polling stations opened, thus causing delays in the beginning of
their work.

When the polling stations were already closed, problems with counting
votes began. We mean the situation when commission members refuse
to announce the result of the voting. This happened on the grandest scale
in Central Ukraine. There were 'directives' on the number of people
supposed to vote for this or that candidate.

These regions used to be characterized by leftist sympathies; this is why a
low level of support for Viktor Yushchenko was forecast there. But when
commission members saw the number of people there who had actually
voted for Yushchenko, they intentionally began to slow down the count.
Commissions simply sabotaged the count or went away, and there was
no quorum. Actually, this is criminal negligence, barring individuals from
expressing their will, punishable in accordance with the Criminal Code
of Ukraine.

We have also recorded violations of secrecy of voting, the same way as
large-scale pressure on different groups of people. Let us take students.
Those of them who lived in hostels were forced to travel home and take
absentee ballots in order to vote in the sight of the rectors, but not at
home where they cannot be controlled.

The Sumy State Agricultural University is a vivid example: students who
have voted did not fold the ballot papers in half, but showed them unfolded
to their lecturers who were members of local commissions at the same time,
a video recording of which has been made. The same thing happened at
some rural polling stations: heads of village councils controlled the way
people voted. We know of cases of withdrawing voters' passports at village
councils on the eve of the voting - this happened in Cherkassy and other
regions".
OBSERVERS COMPLAIN, THE "CARAVAN" GOES ON
In principle, the violations in the elections (moreover, on an unprecedented
scale) were known long before the closure of the last polling station in
Ukraine at 2000 on 31 October. The whole logic (to be more exact,
'anti-logic') of the election campaign proved that the 2004 race would be
the most miraculous of criminal miracles. For example, let us take students
from Sumy.

Why was their large-scale and public 'rape' with unfolded ballots (from
which civilized foreign observers' hair simply stood on end) recorded on
video, distributed on the Internet, but was not used to recognize the
elections at Sumy polling stations as invalid? And what about cases when the
commission members representing the opposition were simply 'thrown out'
without any legal grounds and local electoral commissions actually became
controlled?

Due to a great number of auxiliary candidates, it was easy for the people
representing the authorities to become commission members in the first
round. The Ukrainian Voters' Committee comments: "The situation in Sumy
was also followed by observers, but the elections there have been conducted
the way they have been conducted. This is why we are now initiating a
`blacklist' of local commission members who violated the law. In instances
in which these violations were insignificant, we shall at least insist on
their expulsion from the commissions, and in other cases we shall insist on
their criminal responsibility.

Unfortunately, the Voters' Committee is not a subject of the electoral
process, which is why we may not address our complaints anywhere. But we
shall mobilize people to check the list to the maximum extent. There will be
TV spots, there will be advertising actions aimed at making voters conduct
mass checks whether they and their relatives are included on the lists. We
are also looking out for voters who had been prevented from voting and who
are now ready to appeal to the courts.

We publish our information, and we are waiting for response... In principle,
the news media must react to media reports, and they must open criminal
cases. Two or three public 'beatings' which we are willing to conduct, will
be quite useful now."

SELECTIVENESS OF THE GENERAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE.
NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME
Prosecutor's office remains deaf, blind and mute

The opinion that our [law-enforcement] 'authorities' are obliged to react to
any report about a committed crime is absolutely reasonable, but in reality
this does not get the response which can be expected by the Ukrainian
voters with full rights. As usual, everything depends on the source from
which this information originates. Despite numerous alarm signals from
Yushchenko's headquarters with demands to the General Prosecutor's
Office to open a number of criminal cases on the basis of things which
had happened during the elections, despite numerous cases of drawing
its attention to the situation, particularly in Kirovohrad Region, the
Prosecutor's Office remains deaf, blind and mute. Moreover, it is also
immobile, as if all prosecuting personnel were in a coma or anabiosis.

Instead, the prosecuting authorities are equally actively 'stamping'
criminal cases in the regions which had actively supported Viktor
Yushchenko. According to the press service of the General Prosecutor's
Office, "the Cherkassy regional prosecutor's office has opened a criminal
case containing the traces of the crimes of vote-rigging and bribery, based
on criminal actions by a representative of Yushchenko's headquarters in
Uman district, Cherkassy Region.

The Prosecutor's Office accuses him of giving a bribe to six commission
members at the polling stations of the mentioned constituency aimed at
inclining them to elect Viktor Yushchenko as president. Almost 1,500
hryvnyas was given to 19 commission members. Another case has been
opened against officials and members of electoral commissions 87 and 88
in Ivano-Frankivsk region with regard to counterfeiting electoral documents.
Electoral documents have been counterfeited there by way of reducing the
number of votes in favour of candidate Yanukovych by 100."

Quoting a press release published by Riznytska [street where General
Prosecutor's Office is located] is likely to have no sense. We would like to
conclude with a reminder of the procession organized on 30 October by
priests in Lviv region who visited the heads of all polling stations in
their constituency and asked them to swear on the Bible that they would
not rig the voting results.

I wonder, what would be the reaction of [head of the Central Electoral
Commission] Serhiy Kivalov if he were approached with the similar
request? Or what would the reaction be of [Prosecutor General] Hennadiy
Vasylyev?

And how ready would they be to fulfil the 11th commandment which,
however, is not included in the Holy Writ: Do not cheat thy voter?
However, time will show: less than two weeks are left till the second round
of the elections. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ukrayina Moloda is grateful for the information provided to Oleksandr
Chenenko, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Voters' Committee, along with
Ostap Skrypnyk, executive director of the Ukrainians' Congress in Canada
and coordinator of the foreign observers' group.

The material has been prepared within the framework of the project 'Civic
Society Organizations on the Way to Openness: Joint Strategy' with the
assistance of the News Media Development Fund of the US Embassy in
Ukraine.
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.216: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
=======================================================
2. CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION REPORT ON
THE 2004 UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

V. Bandera, Politics-Infoukes, Saturday, November 13, 2004

The three-member Canadian Parliamentary Delegation in Ukraine was shocked
at the deliberate and widespread nature of election abuses in the October 31
first round of the presidential elections. These findings are based on the
observations of 10 Canadian election observers assigned to the Luhansk
oblast. The parliamentarian delegation is in Ukraine from November 8 to 13
and is comprised of Senator David Smith, and Members of Parliament David
Kilgour and Borys Wrzesnewskyj.

Canada has a "special relationship" with Ukraine. There are more than 1.1
million Ukrainian Canadians and our "special relationship" is based upon the
hundreds of thousands of family and personal ties linking people in both
countries. In addition, there are countless Canadians, such as Senator
Smith and Mr. Kilgour (MP), who are not of Ukrainian descent and have a
genuine interest in developing even stronger ties between our two countries.
They have demonstrated their friendship by visiting Ukraine on previous
occasions.

Canada was the first Western nation to recognize Ukraine's independence in
1991 and once again Canadians feel that it is time to help Ukraine's
fledgling democracy. Canada's House of Commons passed a rare unanimous
motion impressing upon the Government of Ukraine the importance of ensuring
a free and transparent electoral process. To support this, in the first
round, Canada committed the single largest number of official observers, and
currently our three person parliamentary delegation is gathering information
about the fairness of the presidential electoral process thus far.

OBSERVATIONS
The delegation reviewed reports provided by NGO observers, most notably a
well documented and disturbing report from Luhansk oblast detailing systemic
violations. Given the nature of these abuses and the perception that there
was little opportunity for improvement in Luhansk, the delegation focused
its efforts by visiting three southern oblasts - Kherson, Mykolayiv, and
Odessa. Violations were also reported in these oblasts, however the climate
appears to be more conducive for free and fair elections.

The delegation met with either the governor or deputy governor, together
with other officials, in each of the three oblasts. These officials were
unanimous in distancing themselves from the blatantly undemocratic and
unacceptable election violations in Luhansk. They also indicated that they
were unaware of any serious election violations in their oblasts, and
welcomed the opportunity to have independent observers from Canada for the
run-off election on November 21 to demonstrate their commitment to free and
fair elections.

Each oblast administration organized well-attended press conferences.
However, a minority of those in attendance asked questions. One of the
journalists quietly observed his regret that these conferences were being
held in the tightly controlled administrative centers of each oblast.

CONCLUSION
The parliamentary delegation believes that Ukraine has a bright future among
the democratic nations of Europe and the way to achieve this is through
having fully free and fair elections. -30-
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.216: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
========================================================
3. YUSHCHENKO'S CAMPAIGN HQ ALLEGES RIGGING
OF VOTER ROLLS AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RUNOFF

Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 11 Nov 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, Nov 11, 2004

KIEV - [Opposition] Presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko's
campaign HQ has information about continued voter-roll manipulations
ahead of the second round of the [presidential] election [scheduled for 21
November].

Yushchenko's proxy at the Central Electoral Commission [CEC], Yuriy
Klyuchkovskyy, said this to journalists in Kiev on Thursday [11 November].
"Under the pretext that people who reach the age of 18 between the first
and second rounds should be included in voter rolls, some regions include
children and write down that they are 18," Klyuchkovskyy said.

What is more, he said that "voter rolls continue to be distorted" as the
names of people whose surnames or names were misspelled in voter rolls
in the first round are being added at the end of rolls, without deleting the
distorted names from the middle of the rolls.

Therefore, all efforts "to restore the minimum order in voter rolls are
again being thwarted", Klyuchkovskyy said. He recalled that work to
rectify voter rolls could not be done until today as it was impossible to
do so until the final results of the first round were announced. -30-
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.216: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
Your comments about the Report are always welcome
========================================================
4. YUSHCHENKO HEADQUARTERS SAYS PEOPLE CALLING
THEMSELVES ELECTION COMMISSION MEMBERS ARE COLLECTING
PASSPORT DATA OF VINNYTSIA REGION RESIDENTS

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 11, 2004

KYIV - Yuschenko Headquarters Says People Calling Themselves
Election Commission Members Are Collecting Passport Data Of
Vinnytsia Region Residents The Vinnytsia regional election headquarters
of presidential candidate Viktor Yuschenko says that unidentified people
have recently appeared in the region's territory, introducing themselves
as election commission members and collecting passport data of local
residents.

Ukrainian News learned this from MP Volodymyr Skomarovskyi, chief
of Yuschenko's regional election headquarters.

In his words, those people visit apartments and private houses in the region
and collect the names, passport data and workplaces of the residents,
pretending they are specifying voters' lists.

Skomarovskyi believes that this information may be used to get absentee
ballots for election rigging in the run-off.

"The swindlers make use of the fact that many of Vinnytsia region residents
were not put on the voters' lists, or their data was erroneous. This causes
the situation when passport data may be used for getting absentee ballots
and thus falsifying the November 21 election," Skomarovskyi said. -30-
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.216: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
========================================================
5. UKRAINIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT SAYS KIROVOHRAD
VOTE WAS "LONG, CRUEL SPECTACLE"
Compared to Kirovohrad, Mukacheve was child's play

Interview by Volodymyr Semkiv with:
People's Deputy Volodymyr Yavorivskyy
Ukrayina Moloda, Kiev, in Ukrainian 10 Nov 04; p 5
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, Nov 11, 2004

KIEV - The day of the presidential election in the Ukrainian region of
Kirovohrad was marred by violations worse than seen in April during the
Mukacheve mayoral election, an opposition MP has told a newspaper.

Volodymyr Yavorivskyy relates the events of election day in election
district number 100. Thugs, ballot switching and corrupt city officials
kept honest citizens on their toes for a "long, cruel spectacle", he said.

The following is the text of the interview by Volodymyr Semkiv, entitled
"Volodymyr Yavorivskyy: Compared to Kirovohrad, Mukacheve was
child's play", published in Ukrayina Moloda on 10 November, subheadings
have been inserted editorially:

People's Deputy Volodymyr Yavorivskyy recounts how simple people
were able to stand up to strong criminals and administrative resource in
the regional centre.

On 31 October democracy was the most "palpable" in Kirovohrad. If the
Transcarpathian regional city of Mukacheve was called the "battlefield" for
using the most varied and devilish means of manipulating the vote, now it
was the turn of a regional centre in the very heart of Ukraine.

In Kirovohrad, where voting district number 100 was located, almost all
types of electoral violations were seen: administrative resource, pressure
from "thugs", the dumping of "shady" ballots (guess in whose favour they
were) and even shooting. But, as so often happens in films about night time
horrors, the dawn breaks, the forces of evil disappear and good wins.

That is just about what happened in Kirovohrad. Simple people - ordinary
students, conscientious members of electoral commissions and desperate
policemen - did not allow anyone to break the backbone of their voting
rights. But for full victory of right one thing is missing: the members of
Territorial Electoral Commission [TEC] Number 100, who fled their work
in the night of the election, do not want to sign the protocols. And for
several days the Kirovohrad court of appeals has been deciding whether or
not to call tens of members of the TEC inoperative. The time of making
public the results of the vote in Kirovohrad depends on this decision.

In light of all this, the first round of the vote in Kirovohrad deserves our
special attention. Our conversation is with MP from [the opposition bloc]
Our Ukraine Volodymyr Yavorivskyy. Twice, in 1990 and 1994, he was
elected to parliament from Kirovohrad itself and now he was watching over
the presidential election process in Kirovohrad.

"The election in Kirovohrad is a long, cruel spectacle"

[Semkiv] They say Kirovohrad became a second Mukacheve during
this election. Mr Yavorivskyy, can it be that the city made it so big?
TOUGH GAME
[Yavorivskyy] I think Mukacheve was child's play compared to what
was going on in Kirovohrad. And that is not an exaggeration. In
Mukacheve, the most important events started at night. But what
happened in Kirovohrad is a long, cruel spectacle. It began even before
the vote, on Saturday night [30 October] at a meeting of the TEC
number 100, which encompasses the regional centre.

The issue was raised about expelling representatives of the opposition
candidates from district polling commissions. It was clear that this was a
"cleansing". At the meeting, I was able to do something to thwart the
course of events. I said that expelling people from district commissions
was a crude violation. For the law states that to expel a member of a
district commission, he had to be given two warnings about having
missed meetings for valid reasons.

It turned out that not a single person was "pinned down" by such
documentation. We were able to stop this incursion, and the commission
dispersed without making a decision. But as it turned out a few minutes
before the start of the Sunday vote, district commissions received "news"
which was called "excerpts from a decision of the TEC". In fact, there was
no such decision, but based on this paper people were kept from working
in the commissions.

[Semkiv] In Mukacheve we, among other things, saw the complete
intertwining of criminals and the police. Did the same happen in Kirovohrad?

[Yavorivskyy] Of course, Kirovohrad is something of an absolute apogee
of lawlessness, brazenness and impunity. I don't even want to mention
"self-evident" infractions like names missing on the voting lists. Though I
must say people were very active in standing up for their rights. There were
constantly 150 to 200 people who came to complain standing in front of the
TEC, which was located in the city council building. I should say that the
city felt the atmosphere of Viktor Yushchenko winning. I think the
authorities felt it, too. And that is why by lunchtime they started
"military" actions.

But first I want to relate a little something on how the TEC worked. Its
head, Volodymyr Babiy, is an old man, a former apparatchik in the regional
party (he represented the Communist Party of Ukraine candidate for
president, Petro Symonenko - author). That evening when the TEC was
"cleaning out" the opposition, he was ill. On the day of the vote, Babiy
came to the meeting but said he felt ill and shut himself up in his office.
However, he was constantly visited by people from the city administration.

The mayor's office, among others, was working during the election and that
was cause for concern. Police were standing in the corridors and did not let
anyone onto the second floor, to the offices of the city administration.

There was an HQ which was directing the electoral venture. The head of this
HQ, as far as I could tell, was deputy city administration chair Volkanov.
After lunch, information came in that a group of young guys had gone into a
polling station and tried to seize documents. I turned to TEC Chair Babiy
and asked him to take measures. He answered: "that is not my business, the
law enforcement agencies must deal with it". In other words, the chair of
the TEC practically dodged things and washed his hands. And once it
started, the bag began to spill. It is clear that when they started to count
the votes and got to information that Yushchenko was winning, the
authorities put on the brakes at one station and a shoot-out even broke
out.

Soon a band of shaved-heads rushed into the station. They seized two
policemen and two observers with a video camera. Can you imagine,
how can you take down two armed policemen? So my theory is that it
was all prepared by the police.

The most important thing happened when it was time to sign the protocols
and it was already clear that (and I stress again that this was all in the
absence of representatives from the opposition, who were "cleaned out" of
the commissions), Yushchenko's advantage over Yanukovych was a ratio of
about 2.5 : 1. Then we learned that the commission had simply run away. At
the same time, we learned that the city administration was taking out bags
of protocols through the back door. People were bringing documents and
getting in line: the whole courtyard was full. I was told they were taking
the bags to Volkanov. I did not catch him red-handed, but it was clear that
the most important thing was to switch the protocols, while the ballots
could be corrected the next day. I could do nothing other than stand next to
Volkanov's office. When I got to him, he started to kick me out and covered
the lens of the camera. But I was able to foil their operation.

And then there was a very interesting episode. A police officer is coming
down the stairs from the second floor carrying a packet of ballots in front
of him. I take him by the hand and ask:

"Where are you going?"
He says: "I'm coming from the third floor."
"Why were you on the third floor?" I ask.

"I don't know. I'm a policeman; they told me to go in the back door, go up
to room 309 (that's Volkanov's office), because they wanted to look at
something. I took a packet there, and about 30 minutes later went back,
and now I'm carrying it down."

I led this officer to the room where the commission was meeting and told
everything to the TEC members (and by the way, all of this was filmed on my
aide's camera). This servant stood next to me and confirmed everything. I
told him to not go anywhere. "They will place the blame on you, and accuse
you of stealing ballots," I told him, "You can expect anything from them."
And this man sat for three or four hours until we put together the relevant
protocols.

"Representatives of the authorities shook their heads: "It's OK,
Yushchenko's won..."

[Yavorivskyy] When they began accepting documents, everyone understood
that Yushchenko was far ahead. And then they "took off". Chair Volodymyr
Babiy suddenly left the meeting of the commission, as did his deputy
Anatoliy Prylypko and the secretary Yevhen Tymofeyev, who had an ear-
piece on and was apparently receiving directions on what to do. Not even
half the documents were received from polling stations and the TEC had
in effect broken up!

We were not able to telephone the Central Electoral Commission [CEC] to get
advice on what to do in such a case. We telephoned lawyers. They advised us
that it was necessary to immediately elect new leaders out of those who were
left - and there was about half of them...[ellipsis as published]

[Semkiv] So there was no quorum?

[Yavorivskyy] Naturally, there was not. So the lawyers advised us to hold
the meeting with those present, elect a new leadership and send a telegram
to the CEC, requesting the quorum be lowered and fix an act about who left
the commission meeting and at what time. We did all that immediately. We
chose a new chair, Petro Chubchenko (he represented Mykhaylo Hrabach,
who was not a pro-authority "spoiler" candidate - author). Right away, he -
I should give him his due - told us all to settle down. And we began
accepting documents. Every 15 to 20 minutes I ran upstairs so that no one
could take the documents to the mayor's offices. I was constantly met by
shaved heads.

Sometime, I must admit, it was frightful. I saw that this was agony, and
felt that one could expect anything from them. ...[ellipsis as published]
and people came and came (to turn in documents to the TEC).

Exhausted, they shook their heads: "It's OK [literally "normal"], Yushchenko
is winning". And these were people considered representatives of the
pro-authority candidates! They saw this was the will of the people, and it
could not simply be falsified. They brought the protocols. The newly-elected
chair of the commission read all the data out loud: how many voted, how many
ballots were spoiled and who won how many votes. When the count was
finished, it turned out Yushchenko was over 24,000 votes ahead of
Yanukovych.

But most important was what happened in the morning when it was just left
to add up the figures, commission chair Babiy, maybe something "clicked" for
him, arrived. He told how he had felt poor, but had brought with him the
stamp. He - you have to give him his due, too - signed the protocol and at
the same time a statement on resigning his authorities. But it was too bad
that the computer which sent data to the CEC was turned off. Though it
turned out later [data allegedly went via] a transit server in the
presidential administration. The operator who knew the codes had left, the
computer did not work and the 100th commission was left isolated.

[Semkiv] But on a legal level, if there is a stamp and everything else, why
did the CEC not make the data public?

[Yavorivskyy] That is not a question for me to answer. All members of the
commission signed, before that we sent in a telegram on time to the CEC
asking the quorum be reduced. Then the chair of the commission returned
with the stamp. It is clear he understood this was far too responsible and
one could get time for it.

While police were guarding the ballots and two drunk members of the
commission - at about one in the afternoon - there was a call to the
commission.

They said I was being asked to the telephone. On the other end of the line,
a quiet little voice said "We, two students, are members of a district
commission. Our commission with its leadership has fled, only the two of
us are left here. The ballots are still in the urns, we have barricaded the
room and are not letting anyone in. If you can, please come."

I took two members of the TEC - I couldn't do it alone - and we left. We
got there and saw the following scene: two children, students about 19 years
old, had stamped the seals on the urns and signed their names. They said
they were afraid of an attack on the station. Neither of them took their
eyes off the boxes and loaded them in the car themselves.

One more story, to "warm-down" so to speak. Members of the TEC told
how they witnessed the following scene at one station: two drunk commission
members are lying down - they got drunk either from grief, or from needing
to report back to the bosses - and next to them are two policemen guarding
the documents. I think a lot of the young police had moments of conscience.
That is something that makes Kirovohrad different from Mukacheve.

We sealed the documents in Kirovohrad and left a guard by them. I brought
all the "original stamped" [documents and boxes] to Kiev. But we literally
extracted these 25,000 votes. Otherwise they would have gone in favour of
Yanukovych.

In court we put forward the following: those who quit the commission
meeting, committed a crime - they refused to count the people's vote. I
travelled to the region and gave testimony. We are defending the truth and
will get it. We are not even talking about Yushchenko here, but about the
betrayal of the people who voted.

[Semkiv] Why do you think this got out of hand in Kirovohrad?

[Yavorivskyy] It's a criminal belt: there are two clans operating here, who
are headed by people's deputies. Before the vote they carried themselves
like masters of the city. No one had ever got in their way. But on the night
of the vote they sunk, for they understood they were not so terrifying.
Suddenly they saw that there were some people in the commissions who
did everything they could to keep this "out-of-control" from running away.
It is simply miraculous!

This was not accomplished by Yavorivskyy: I had colossal help from people.
Otherwise Yushchenko would have lost. They would have said: "There you go,
in a central region of Ukraine, Yushchenko lost". That did not pan out: we
did not let it happen. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.216: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
=======================================================
6. COMMITTEE OF VOTERS OF UKRAINE REPORT ON RESULTS
OF OBSERVATION OF VOTING AND VOTE TABULATION AT
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF UKRAINE ON OCT 31, 2004

Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 12, 2004

KYIV - The Committee of Voters of Ukraine is the all-Ukrainian NGO.
CVU observed the voting process and vote tabulation during the Presidential
election in Ukraine on October 31, 2004, and performed the parallel vote
tabulation using the random sampling. Reports on the election monitoring
results are available at the CVU's web-site www.cvu.org.ua.

On the polling day, the Tochka Zoru Newspaper (published by the CVU)
delegated 10,000 special correspondents to polling stations.
MAJOR DRAWBACKS AND INFRINGEMENTS
Based on the monitoring results, the CVU has registered following draw-
backs and infringements committees during the voting and vote tabulation
procedures:
1. The major infringement affecting the election results was poor quality
of the electoral registers. According to the CVU's assessments, 10% of
voters who came to polling station were not allowed to vote because of
mistakes in electoral registers.
2. The CVU regards illegal spoiling of ballots on the eve of the polling
day through sealing up names of individual candidates with the "DROP
OUT" seal, and failure of some commissioners to sign ballots (unsigned
ballots are invalid) as wrongful acts aimed at affecting the voting results.
3. Also, the CVU is concerned about illegal expelling of representatives
of individual candidates from the commissions and cancellation of
registration of observers, which infringed transparency of the electoral
process
4. Gross violations were misuse of absentee certificates, which allowed
many persons to vote several times.
5. The CVU has registered interferences of third persons into work of
commissions. Often, they tried to put pressure upon voters or commissioners,
as well as broke secrecy of voting.
6. Gross violations were committed during the vote tabulation at some
polling stations; thus, commissioners refused to certify the voting results
within polling stations, delayed delivery of the voting results to
territorial commissions and the Central Election Commission. Attempted
replacement of protocols was registered, as well as violence form the part
of criminal gangs.
7. The CVU believes that the situation with delayed promulgation of the
voting results by the Central Election Commission is unprecedented. The
formal law has been complied with, but this delay conflicts with the
previous experience of the prompt determination of the election results in
Ukraine.
8. The CVU regards all attempts to announce invalidity of voting results
at some polling stations and constituencies (which attempts are accompanied
with pressure of the law-enforcement bodies on commissioners) as suspicious
and groundless.
CVU RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the monitoring' results, the CVU recommends that:
1. Local authorities, commissioners, and voters should make efforts to
examine and clarify electoral registers for the repeat voting.
2. Vote tabulation should be completed within all polling stations and
constituencies immediately. The Central Election Commission should
immediately promulgate vote results and schedule the repeat voting.
3. Vote results per constituencies should be published on the web site of
the Central Election Commission immediately, and vote results per poling
stations should be announced within a week.
4. Commissioners should compare names of absentee voters at different
poling stations, identify persons who voted several times and determine
numbers of poling stations, which had issued relevant absentee certificates.
5. Commissioners, who have committed violations during the voting and
vote tabulations, should be expelled from the commissions immediately.
6. Persons, guilty in falsification of electoral lists, spoilage of
ballot papers, illegal issuance and falsification of absentee ballots,
sabotage of election commissions' activities, illegal interferences into the
election process, putting pressure upon voters and commissioners should
be called to administrative and criminal account.
7. Persecution of commissioners and other officials because of political
reasons should be terminated immediately.

As infringements related with errors in the electoral registers prevailed
and affected almost each polling station, the present report does not
contain specific examples thereof.
ILLEGAL EXPULSION OF COMMISSIONERS
(1) Dnipropetrovsk oblast
TEC # 27 (Dnipropetrovsk). On October 29, about 70 representatives of
opposition candidates - Yushchenko, Symonenko, Moroz, Hrabar,
Chernovetskyi, Brodskyi - were expelled from the polling station
commissions.
The Court of Appeal of Dnipropetrovsk oblast cancelled this decision of the
TEC on October 30.
Constituency #31 (Kryvyi Rig), polling station #19: Chairman of
the commission prevents seven commissioners from participation in the
commission's meetings, despite the court's ruling on legitimacy of their
membership.
(2) Kirovohrad oblast
A conflict situation occurred within the TEC # 100 because of expulsion of
120 polling station commissioners. 38 polling stations were not opened in
due time, as the Territorial Election Commission had expelled some members
of the polling station commissions before and can not determine the valid
numerical strength thereof.
SPOILAGE OF BALLOT PAPERS
(1) Volyn oblast
Polling station # 158 of Horokhiv constituency # 20 (Khorokhoryn village,
Lutsk rayon). Members of the polling station commission had been informed by
the candidate for the President's office Ihor Dushyn on withdrawal of his
observers from the said polling station. They made the false conclusion that
Ihor Dushyn had recalled his candidacy and struck him out of ballot papers.
Members of the poling station commission appealed to the relevant TEC for
rendering new ballot-papers in place of spoiled ones.
Members of the polling station commission # 211 (Bukhiv village,
Lubeshivskyi rayon, constituency # 23) issued voting papers sealed with the
"DROP OUT" stamp in front of the name of Mykhailo Brodskyi, candidate for
the President of Ukraine.
(2) Rivne oblast
At polling station #76 (constituency # 157, Smyha village, Dubenskyi rayon),
ballot papers have been spoiled before the polling day. Voting procedure was
re-scheduled, and as of 9.00 AM it failed to commence.
When opening ballot boxes, many ballots without names or signatures of the
relevant commissioners were revealed. These facts have been registers at the
polling station # 59, constituency # 156, where 51 ballots issued for voting
at home, contained no requisites. The same infringements have been committed
at polling station # 7 (constituency # 159), polling station # 18
(constituency # 159), and many others.
(3) Ternopil oblast
5 polling stations of the constituency # 167 (Shumskyi rayon), 1 station of
the constituency # 168, and one station of the constituency # 169 failed to
open in due time. Ballot-papers bore the "DROPOUT" seal in front of
M.Brodskyi's name. So, almost 3,000 voters were not allowed to cast their
votes for a long time.
Third persons' interferences into the voting process. Broking the secrecy of
voting
(4) Zaporizhzha oblast
Constituency # 82, polling station #6. Observers informed that
Mr. Yephymenko, Melitopol town mayor, visited the polling station at
9:15 AM and instructed the head of the PEC on "improvement" of the
commission's operations.
(5) Donetsk oblast
Students who have cast their votes were given following
certificates to be presented to their curators: "Thank you for execution of
your civic duty - participation in the election of the President of Ukraine
in 2004".
(6) Luhansk oblast
Constituency #113, polling station 27: heads of the local medical
departments controlled turnover of their employees at polling station # 27.
(7) Sumy oblast
In Sumy (Sumy Agrarian University), the secrecy of the ballot is infringed.
Ballot-booths are closed, and voters are required to vote in presence of the
polling station commissioners.
5-10 young men resembling criminals stay within polling stations of the city
of Sumy, Sumy and Bilopillya rayons. Each man wears a button with a dove.
These men presented IDs of correspondents of Sumy newspapers Sumy I
Sumchany, Dialog, Khimic, bearing no photos or signatures. These groups
occurred at polling stations from the first minutes of voting; usually, they
stay near doors, sometimes enter the premises; they are provoking. In
Sumy, such situation occurred at each poling station.
(8) Volyn oblast
In Lokachi village (polling station # 82, constituency # 20), observers
representing Viktor Yanukovych demanded that voters disclose their full
names when leaving the polling station. Following interference of observers,
such interviews were terminated.
(9) Vinnytsa oblast
Special polling station # 66 (constituency # 12, Vinnytsa mental hospital):
doctors and hospital nurses instruct patients how to vote. They ignore
remarks of observers.
REPEAT VOTE OF ABSENTEE VOTERS
(1) Chernaksy oblast
10:05 AM, polling station #43, constituency # 197: observers and
commissioners registered many absentee voters from Leski, Chervona
Sloboda, and Borovytsa villages. These people know each other.
(2) Rivne oblast
Cases of repeat vote of observers representing Viktor Yanukovych were
registered in the constituency # 155 (Rivne city). Thus, Mykola Philon had
voted at the polling station # 56 in Rivne city using the absentee
certificate # 0512011, and then voted at the polling station # 58 (Rivne
city) using the absentee certificate # 0512015.
(3) Donetsk oblast
Constituency # 44: three buses (04418 ??, 36505??, 04413??) stopped
near polling stations and unloaded passengers for repeat voting. Having cast
their votes, such persons returned to the buses. It was observed that the
bus # 04413 ?? with employees of the Nord Plant stopped near the polling
station # 4 (constituency # 44).
Employees went out and entered the polling station in groups up to three
persons for voting. All voters came to only one commissioner, who issued
ballot-papers to them. When the correspondent of the Tochka Zoru newspaper
demanded that the absentee certificates of voters be presented, security men
and commissioners localized her. After that, employees of the Plant took
their certificates away and immediately left the polling station.
(4) Dnipropetrovsk oblast
Constituency # 25, polling station #13 (Dnipropetrovsk): as of 10.00 AM,
about 100 absentee voters arrived at the polling station.
(5) Kyiv oblast
600 persons with absentee certificates arrived at the polling station # 31
from Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv. In total, there were 1,500 voters
registered at the polling station.
Constituency #100, polling station # 122: militiamen prevented
the large group of absentee voters from voting in the premise of the Zhovten
Health Center. They said that buses would arrive soon and take all voters to
Horlivka town.
A bus # 55977?? with uniformed passengers (Berkut troops) and civilians
went to the polling stations # 20, 21, located in the premise of one school
(constituency # 98, Brovary). They cast their votes using absentee
certificates. They did not allow taking photographs of them.
(6) Kirovohrad oblast
A bus with 20 passengers went from village to village in
Svitlovodskyi rayon; passengers were representatives of the rayon Pension
Fund and the rayon Department of Agriculture. They had absentee certificates
with them.
In Kirovohrad (constituency # 100, Kovalivka district) representatives of
the oblast HQ of Viktor Yushchenko have recorded the fact of voting of
same people at different polling station. Thus, the group of 14-15 persons
visited several polling stations and cast their votes at each of them.
Having noticed the shadowing, they disappeared.
(7)
Luhansk oblast
Luhansk oblast, Stakhaniv town, constituency # 116, polling station # 40;
Luhansk oblast, Molodohvardiysk town, constituency # 108, polling station
# 79: it was informed that two mobile groups went through the oblast using
absentee certificates. Such groups were registered in Stakhaniv town.
Observers informed that about 80 persons had got out the bus and cast their
votes at the polling station. The same group of miners voted in
Molodohvardiysk at polling station # 79.
(8) Volyn oblast
Deputy head of Volyn oblast administration Stepan Rodych brought the
group of absentee voters with him (about 30 persons) for voting at the
polling station # 35 (constituency # 22).
INFRINGEMENTS IN THE COURSE OF VOTE TABULATION
(1) Zakarpattya oblast
Head of the polling station commission # 5 (constituency $ 71) Vasyl Duda
and other commissioners left the station after the vote tabulation having
failed to draw up the protocol.
Head of the polling station commission # 115 (Strabichovo) said that 100
ballot papers were missed. After that, according to witnesses, commissioners
began to pull ballots out of their bosoms and laid papers on the table.
(2) Sumy oblast
At the polling station # 165, we have managed to register the process of
replacement of ballot papers at Trostyanetska rayon state administration.
Cars loaded with ballot papers and protocols, which went to the territorial
election commission, were directed to the rayon state administration under
the pretence of formation of the convoy. Heads of polling station
commissions entered the premise of the rayon state administration with
protocols, where a female officer of the administrative department accepted
original protocols and issued another ones. Following the observers'
protest, a woman grabbed protocols and barricaded herself in the office of
the head of the state administration Beresin. Members of polling station
commissions went to the TEC having falsified protocols with them.
(3) Kirovohrad oblast
At the polling station commission # 93 (constituency # 1900), unknown
persons have stolen ballot papers and other documents and departed
accompanied with the head of the polling station commission.
At 2.30 AM, journalists and observers present at the polling station
commission # 92 (constituency # 100), were taken out of the room where
the commission sat. Later on, unknown persons accompanied by militiamen,
rushed into the room, and captured ballot papers. Observers and some
commissioners tried to prevent removal of ballot papers. During the scuffle,
somebody fired a shot. Unknown criminals disappeared with ballot papers.
Head and the deputy head of the territorial election commission # 100 left
the commissions' meeting during the vote tabulation. Voting results have not
been announced in this constituency yet.
(4) Zaporizhzha oblast
Head of the territorial election commission # 78 Ivan Haidai refused to
issue protocols with voting results to other commissioners. He failed to
validate his decision; instead, he promised to give Xerox copies only.
(5) Ternopil oblast
On November 1, approximately at 2.00 AM, Druzhba housing block
(Ternopil city), where the territorial election commission # 166 sat, was
cut off. Members of the territorial election commission continued their work
using candles. Simultaneously, the same happened in Zbarazh town, at the
office of the territorial election commission # 167. -30-
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