Leonid KUCHMA: “If I lose I’ll take a shot of vodka and go on”

Polling Station No. 1, District Election Committee No. 38, Constituency No. 223, was secured by militia units since 8 a.m., Sunday, October 31, and besieged by journalists, all awaiting the appearance of Number One Candidate Leonid Kuchma. Those organizing the gala show, Leonid Kuchma Casts His Ballot for a Better Future, went out of their way striving to preserve the “usual” school interior, including the lobby now the scene of the historic event. The result was a bit on the burlesque side: the premises were originally used for an Aleksandr Pushkin exposition commemorating the great Russian poet’s bicentennial, with autumnal landscapes hanging from the wall, bearing inscriptions like “Oh, Mournful Season,” and right above the ballot box was a sign reading “Pushkin Tales.”

Actually, the most interesting tale we heard from early morning was one about fair elections.

The officially designated guarantor of the Constitution would shrug and ask rhetorically, “Will you tell me who can offer a technology of rigged elections?” Leonid Kuchma could receive an eloquent answer to this question at midnight when the Public Monitoring Center Verkhovna Rada, the Central Election Committee, and Electors’ Committee began receiving messages about transgressions of the election law, all aimed to benefit only one candidate. And not a single complaint from Mr. Kuchma’s election headquarters, something about someone slipping in a pack of sham ballots for Oleksandr Moroz or Yevhen Marchuk.

As it was, DEC No. 83 displayed no information about all 13 candidates (as required by the election law, using the CEC-designated format). According to Roman Bezsmertny, one of Leonid Kuchma campaign coordinators, about 40% of the electorate were still uncertain on the election date. This and the absence of the said information meant that whoever came to the central polling station was “doomed” to vote for Number One Candidate, without having an opportunity to make his/her free and conscious choice guaranteed by the law. Asked by The Day, the chairman of the election committee (the man identified himself as Mykola Hryhorovych) replied that everything was in order, and that all canvassing, including “visual aids,” was stopped 24 hours before the balloting and said one ought to be more careful reading the law. We did. Article 7 called Openness and Transparency of Presidential Elections reads: “Election committees shall duly inform citizens about their membership, place of work, and working hours provide an opportunity for the voters to familiarize themselves with the biographies of the candidates and their election programs.”

Strange, isn’t it, that the person presiding over such an important committee should not be familiar with the fundamentals of the election law, confusing the notions of canvassing and informing? Well, the man must have acted remembering the old truth that one can’t be too careful.

Remarkably, both NSDC Secretary Horbulin and People’s Deputy Kostrytsky casting their ballots at the same polling station “somehow failed to notice” it. Even stranger, however, seems the fact that Oleksandr Moroz’s observers also did not object, apparently satisfied by the DEC chairman’s explanation. In any country wishing to look democratic this blatant violation of equal election rights would be immediately noticed by opposition, demanding remedial measures and notifying the media, volunteer and international monitoring groups. As it was, the opposition candidate’s observer even refused to identify himself to The Day. So what could one expect from rank-and-file voters, disoriented, confused, even scared? Fully dependent on the regime, how could they protest its methods?

A seven-year-boy, the first to arrive with his parents, asked aloud what sounded as a very “improper” question: “Mom, has Kuchma come to vote for himself?”

Journalists were also interested, but phrased their question differently: “What did you vote for, Mr. Kuchma?” And heard a reply which was as roundabout, “I voted for a better life for Ukrainians. And it will be better, unless we change the course we are following today, although adjustments are necessary, but nothing must be changed strategically.”

The President still believes that Ukraine’s socioeconomic situation is his main rival, which is illogical, to say the least. Considering that both the Chief Executive and Premier Pustovoitenko have of late been citing encouraging statistics, pointing to GDP growth, strengthening the national currency, repayment of social debts, this socioeconomic situation should be the President’s major ally, not opponent, when vying for the second term.

“Personally, I don’t need unfair elections, not from any standpoint,” the head of state declared and was obviously quite sincere, because now that Symonenko and Vitrenko are running second and third, the Presidential Administration’s “standby” scenario of bungling the elections would by no means benefit Leonid Kuchma. It is also true, however, that the Chief Executive cannot simply think of a situation in which he would get in the second round with anyone other than a “Red revenge” representative. Asked by The Day if he was still sure of his victory in the second round, supposing that someone other than the Left Symonenko or Vitrenko got into it, Mr. Kuchma said no one except the CPU or PSPU leader would ever get there.

True, the President had difficulty explaining precisely what made him so sure, but then emotionally denied that the Kaniv Four’s split had anything to do with it. “It was a soap bubble from the outset!” His emotional reaction made it perfectly clear that the split had not only added to the President’s ratings but also, and I think most importantly, made him feel sure of himself and his position, something no one had noticed previously.

In particular, the President said that The Day, campaigned for Yevhen Marchuk, one of the Kaniv Four, over the past couple of days, had “made mincemeat of its former ally Oleksandr Moroz. What decency can be expected there?” Well, hearing about decency from Mr. Kuchma is like discussing chastity with Cipollino. Another thing is interesting: since when has the President started publicly “defending” Oleksandr Moroz, his adversary, demanding that the SPU leader be treated decently?

The President further assured that he suffered from neither insomnia nor any complexes, so he was not going to spend the night watching television or sitting by the phone. “Last night, for example, I went to watch a play by the Sovremennik group and enjoyed every minute of it. (This author dares say the President must have enjoyed another performance in a much bigger way!) As I said, I am not going to make any big deal of the elections. I behaved the same way in 1994. That time I left Kyiv and flew to Dnipropetrovsk where I have a dacha and no one could find me, because five years ago we had no mobile communications. In the morning I went to Dnipropetrovsk. I was not excited and there I got a call telling me the outcome. This time, too, I will remain calm. No one will know where I am.” And added that if he lost, he would down a glass of vodka and live on.