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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

Zaporizhzhia Parties Walk Out

26 June, 1999 - 00:00

By Viktor PUZHAICHEREDA, The Day
On June 22, 15 regional organizations of political parties discontinued
their membership of the Consultative Council of Political Parties in Zaporizhzhia
oblast and set up a consultative body, the For Fair Elections Round Table.

The Consultative Council had been formed by initiative of the oblast
state administration with the most noble intentions: to jointly work out
important decisions and influence the region's life. Before the defections
it comprised 32 political parties out of 37 registered in the oblast. The
initiators explained their decision to opt out by the fact that "the Zaporizhzhia
oblast state administration has joined the election process on the side
of the current President. The campaign is being waged with numerous violations
of constitutional norms and the law On the Election of the President of
Ukraine."

The For a Fair Election Round Table includes not only the leftist parties
but also Hromada, Rukh, and the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (KUN).
Vasyl Melashchenko, chairman of the oblast KUN branch, noted: "The Communists
and nationalists are now sitting next to each other. Earlier, this was
unthinkable even in a nightmare. What has united us today is the high-handedness
around us."

Leaders of the parties making up the new organization are worried that
the politically-conscious state administration heads of different levels
have sided with Mr. Kuchma. The state bodies mount pressure on public-sector
employees who depend on them: civil servants, doctors, teachers, public
utility and factory workers, and law enforcement officers. Most regional
mass media only focus on the current President. A deliberate information
blackout is imposed on his rivals.

The participants in the For Fair Elections Round Table are determined
to join the efforts of political parties and non-governmental organizations
to monitor compliance with the law on presidential elections at all stages
of the election campaign. They have decided to meet weekly.

 

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