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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

How will Internet web-sites affect the Ukrainian Socialists?

10 March, 1999 - 00:00

After Yevhen Marchuk, another Ukrainian politician — Socialist
Party leader Oleksandr Moroz — has opened his own web-page in the Internet
(www.moroz.com.ua).

At the presentation on this occasion, the Socialist leader
was mainly asked questions about the coming presidential elections.

Mr. Moroz rejected any possibility of nominating Oleksandr
Tkachenko as the Left’s joint candidate for president.

Mr. Moroz was also asked to comment on the following points:
what will he do if the Communists nominate a presidential candidate of
their own? Why has Leonid Kuchma leveled all his criticism at Pavlo Lazarenko
since the parliamentary elections, without in fact uttering a word about
Petro Symonenko? Moreover, Mr. Symonenko has been named Politician of the
Year (it is an open secret now who patronizes these dished out laurels),
although Mr. Kuchma is being portrayed as an alternative to the Left threat.

Mr. Moroz said, “You see, I understand all these things...
very well. And since you also understand them, you may understand, pardon
my tautology, why I don’t give any details on this matter. I don’t think
it is a secret that Mr. Symonenko will be nominated as candidate at his
party’s congress. There is not the slightest doubt I will also be named
as candidate at our congress. We’ll coordinate our stands.”

The presentation over, Mr. Moroz answered The Day’s questions.

“Is it probable that a left-wing government will come to
power in Ukraine before the presidential elections?”

“I think not.”

“On Friday the Prosecutor General’s Office sent additional
materials on the Lazarenko case to the US. According to Prosecutor-General
Potebenko, there is no danger to Mr. Lazarenko’s and his family’s security
in Ukraine. What is your opinion on this?”

“It’s hard for me to judge, but to be in custody is already
a threat to human, as well as political, life...”

“But Mr. Lazarenko is now in US custody. Is his life in
danger over there?”

“The point is that he has been detained there pending a
clarification of circumstances. And over here, he would have been detained
on criminal charges. These are entirely different things. The levels of
moral (and other) pressure are not comparable.

“In case of a positive solution of the question of his
stay and, the more so, asylum in the USA (I have unconfirmed information
the matter has been settled in Mr. Lazarenko’s favor), we will have to
assess quite differently the roles of all actors in this play. I think
the situation has taken a very interesting turn, for it enables Mr. Lazarenko
to speak out. I wish he would do so, because all that story with parliamentary
consent to Mr. Lazarenko’s arrest was, in my opinion, caused by the desire
to prevent him from telling what he can.”

“Practically all opposition politicians, including you,
talk about the possible rigging of the coming presidential election results
by those in power. What kind of practical steps can be taken to prevent
this?”

“First, it is necessary to conclude an agreement between
various political forces on the presence of their representatives at each
polling station in each constituency, so that they may accompany all voting
documents (especially during vote counting) on their way from the polling
station to the Central Electoral Commission. Secondly, it is necessary
to exact immediate information about the course of voting (as prescribed
by law).

“The law On the Election of the President lays down a simple
pattern of vote counting: a polling station commission, a constituency
commission, and the Central Commission. It leaves out such links as district
and oblast, where the administration has always had maximum opportunities
for rigging, which was confirmed by the most recent presidential elections.”

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