Parliamentary elections at risk

Last Wednesday the Committee of Ukrainian Voters (KVU) made public the results of a February survey of the 2006 election campaign.

KVU chairman Ihor Popov is worried that local electoral commissions have not begun working. The commissions should have gotten down to work a week ago, but as of today many of them have not even been formed. The political parties running for parliamentary seats have taken a nonchalant approach to forming local commissions. As a result, some of them are understaffed. According to the voters’ committee experts, this may impede voting on Election Day because commissions will have no quorum in the absence of even one or two members.

In addition, people often refuse to work in these commissions because the job is difficult and poorly paid. Lack of proper logistical and organizational support is in fact the most acute problem of the 2006 election campaign, Popov said. For example, some polling stations are not equipped with safes, and voters’ lists have to be kept at commission members’ homes. Sometimes local authorities provide nothing better than warehouses for local electoral commissions.

KVU observers noted the growing incidence of administrative resource abuse in February, which Popov attributes to the fact that the election race is in the home stretch. Territorial commissions are often controlled by local government bodies whose members take an active part in the elections. What makes the “spring 2006 season” special is that both pro-governmental and opposition parties and blocs are tapping the administrative resource. Even though bureaucrats are abusing their positions much less than they did in the 2004 elections, the passivity of the central government is a matter of serious concern. There is only one example of a local official being relieved of his office: Odesa Raion Administration head Taranov, for putting pressure on electoral commission members. But complete impunity has never encouraged anyone, least of all Ukrainian bureaucrats, to obey the law.

During its monitoring the Committee of Ukrainian Voters spotted another important election campaign problem: the content of promotional materials. Experts think that most party and bloc election managers are putting too much emphasis on negative things. Popov pointed out that such actions can bring about public apathy and total mistrust toward state institutions. Reciprocal mudslinging has practically become the norm in the election campaign, Popov says.

Nor are participants in the election race averse to carrying out acts of overt crime. The KVU has recorded raids and acts of arson at party offices, as well as beatings of candidates and canvassers.