Ukraine Protesters Told to March to Parliament

reuters ^ | Nov 23

[Truth666]

Lugner calling Kuschma to cancel the election - Kuschma has two alternatives : follow in the footsteps of Yeltsin of October 1999 or follow these calls.
The two immediate questions :
Will this march end like the Belgrade did ?
What will Kuschma do ?

[Truth666]

Place your bets. After all it's the end game.

[OXENinFLA]

Tue Nov 23, 6:48 AM ET
Supporters of Ukraine's opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko take part in a rally in Kiev's main Independence Square, November 23, 2004. Ukrainian opposition chief Yushchenko told tens of thousands of protesters in a Kiev square on Tuesday to march to parliament, where an emergency session on a disputed presidential election was to begin shortly. REUTERS/Mykola Lazarenko
Mon Nov 22, 9:06 PM ET
Supporters of Ukraine's opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko rally in downtown Lviv, western Ukraine. (AP/Sergei Grits)
Mon Nov 22, 7:39 PM ET
Supporters of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko shout slogans for their leader during a protest rally in Kiev(AFP/Viktor Drachev)
Mon Nov 22, 4:43 PM ET
Ukraine's opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko addresses supporters during a rally on Kiev's main thoroughfare and Independence Square, November 22, 2004. Ukraine's prime minister was on the verge of victory in a bitterly-fought presidential election that U.S. and Western monitors denounced for not meeting democratic standards. Photo by Pool/Reuters REUTERS/Anatoly Medzyk/Pool
Tue Nov 23, 5:43 AM ET
Hundreds of tents and thousands of demonstrators are seen in the main street of the Ukrainian capital Kiev, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on Tuesday in downtown Kiev to protest alleged fraud in the presidential elections and to support opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Tue Nov 23, 6:51 AM ET
A supporter of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko protect himself from the cold in a temporary campsite in Kiev. Thousands of opposition supporters spent the night sleeping in tents as they continued to protest against the presidential runoff vote which has polarised views in the Ukraine.(AFP/Mladen Antonov)

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping

[The Red Zone]

They mispunch their chadskis?

[OXENinFLA]

They sure do like orange.........

[OXENinFLA]

Mon Nov 22, 3:34 PM ET
Ukraine's opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko gestures a victory sign as he addresses a 100,000-strong crowd of supporters during a rally on Kiev's main thoroughfare and Independence Square, November 22, 2004. Opposition Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko said that observers and election commission members registered more than 11,000 violations during the country's presidential elections. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Mon Nov 22, 3:35 PM ET
Ukrainians greet western-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko in the central Independence Square, during a rally in Ukraine's capital Kiev, Monday, Nov. 22, 2004.Tens of thousands of demonstrators packed into downtown Kiev on Monday to denounce alleged fraud in the presidential elections while the capital's city council and several other municipal governments rejected the official results and a major employer closed factories in protest. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Mon Nov 22, 2:10 PM ET
A dog wearing the colours of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko is seen with his owner at a protest rally in Kiev. Yushchenko called on tens of thousands of supporters gathered in Kiev to continue their protests against alleged fraud in the crucial presidential runoff vote 'until victory'(AFP/Sergei Supinsky)
Mon Nov 22, 8:14 AM ET
A supporter of Ukraine's opposition presidential candidate liberal Viktor Yushchenko waves his campaign flags from a vehicle in central Kiev, November 22, 2004. Ukraine's prime minister was on the verge of victory in a presidential election on Monday but his West-leaning rival accused the authorities of mass fraud and told thousands of supporters to stay on the streets in protest. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Mon Nov 22, 5:44 AM ET
Supporters of Ukraine's opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko wave a banner reading 'Yes' as they take part in a rally in central Kiev, November 22, 2004. Ukraine's prime minister was on the verge of victory in a presidential election on Monday but his liberal rival accused the authorities of mass fraud and told thousands of supporters to stay on the streets in protest. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

[dr_who_2]

Are they having trouble hiding the fact that they're losing the vote?

[Agog]

Below is an interesting article regarding the various forms of fraud perpetrated by the communist Yanukovich to steal the Ukainian election. It's amazing that on Free Republic, of all places, people seem to believe it's a good thing that that Putin's goal of reconstructing the Soviet Union seems to be gaining momentum. I never expected to see members of this forum to be promoting such goals.


MOSCOW TIMES

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Observers See 'Dead Souls' and Other Fraud

By Anatoly Medetsky and Simon Saradzhyan
Staff Writers KIEV -- Turnout at many polling stations was implausibly high. Absentee ballots were cast multiple times. Disappearing ink made ballots invalid.

These are a few of the hundreds of violations reported by voters and independent observers at Ukraine's runoff election, which Western and local observers denounced Monday as fraught with fraud and abuse.

"It is now apparent that there was a concerted and forceful program of election day fraud and abuse enacted with the leadership or cooperation of authorities," said Richard Lugar, a senior U.S. senator who was sent by President George W. Bush to monitor the vote.

The U.S. State Department late Monday called on the Ukrainian government to investigate allegations of fraud or risk a changed relationship with the United States, The Associated Press reported.

Observers from a mission representing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and NATO said the Ukrainian government had done nothing to act on recommendations made after the first round on Oct. 31.

"With an even heavier heart than three weeks ago, I have to repeat the message from the first round: This election did not meet a considerable number of international standards for democratic elections," mission head Bruce George told reporters in Kiev.

"The deficiencies have not been addressed. The abuse of state resources in favor of the prime minister continued, as well as an overwhelming media bias in his favor," he said.

The European Union's 25 foreign ministers summoned Ukrainian ambassadors to national capitals to protest the way the vote was handled.

Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot, whose country holds the EU presidency, said the ministers also agreed to send a statement of protest to Ukraine's parliament and outgoing President Leonid Kuchma but that the EU would confer with observers before deciding on any further punitive measures.

In contrast, Vladimir Rushailo, who headed the Russian observer mission, declared the voting "transparent, legitimate and free," Interfax reported.

Voter turnout exceeded 100 percent at many polling stations in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk that voted predominantly for Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the first round, opposition challenger Viktor Yushchenko said.

"In the Donetsk region, turnout at every third polling station was more than 100 percent," Yushchenko told a rally in Kiev.

Both regions, which are led by pro-Yanukovych governors, are located in eastern Ukraine, where Yanukovych has strong public support.

The Central Elections Commission's own reports raised doubts about their plausibility. For example, turnout in the Donetsk region, where Yanukovych is from and where he once served as governor, was put at 96.23 percent.

Yushchenko said the official results from several polling stations in Donetsk and Luhansk showed that up to 99 percent of voters picked Yanukovych.

The Central Elections Commission said late Monday that Yanukovych received 96.20 percent of the vote in Donetsk and 92.72 percent in Luhansk.

In Luhansk, Yanukovych's supporters kept close track of voter turnout throughout the day Sunday and went to the apartments of those who had not voted to encourage them to do so, said Yevgeny Bairamov, an observer with the nongovernmental Committee of Voters of Ukraine.

"There was no doubt that Yanukovych is the winner in Luhansk, but the turnout figures are completely unrealistic," he said.

Bairamov said that all 12 of the region's district election committees were supposed to work Monday to accept complaints about violations but closed early in the morning after counting votes.

Reporters and observers were denied access to many polling stations in the pro-Yanukovych regions.

The Central Elections Commission's announcement last week that that the number of registered voters shot up by 750, 000 to a total of 37.6 million shows the scale of the vote-rigging, said Andrei Duda of the Union of Ukrainian Voters, a nongovernmental organization that monitored the election.

The commission revised the number after correcting lists of voters from the first round in this nation of 47.4 million.

Duda said that most of these additional voters were "dead souls," whose names were used on multiple absentee ballots and added as many as 2 million votes to the final vote count.

He said he suspects authorities also inflated voter rolls by leaving names with incorrect spellings on them after voters whose names were wrong had them corrected.

Yushchenko said five times more absentee ballots than in the first round were distributed across the country.

Local observers reported a number of cases of voters casting absentee ballots at multiple polling stations. In one example, Duda's organization said it saw 12 young men riding in a yellow minivan from one polling station to the next in the city of Uzhgorod in the Zakarpatsky region. It said the van was accompanied by a police patrol car.

Yushchenko accused election officials of trying to stuff ballot boxes in the Nikolayevsk region, saying a third of voters there cast ballots in boxes that were specially delivered to their homes -- a right usually reserved for ill or elderly people.

Yushchenko urged the authorities to cancel voting results at polling stations where violations were reported.

The Central Elections Commission said Monday that it had not received any complaints about the vote count, while the police said they had registered only 37 election-related offenses.

Yushchenko's campaign headquarters said it has documented more than 2,000 violations, while Yanukovych's supporters told Interfax that they have counted about 750 violations.

In addition to the outright vote-rigging, observers reported illegal campaigning on election day. Parishioners of the St. Michael Cathedral in the city of Cherkassy, for instance, were handed icons with pro-Yanukovych leaflets attached to the back, the Union of Ukrainian Voters said on its web site.

Also in Cherkassy, an unidentified person dumped ink into a ballot box at a polling stations.

An election official at a polling station in Kiev, where Yushchenko won a majority of the votes in the first round, used disappearing ink on ballots, Ukrainian news web site Korrespondent.net reported. Vyacheslav Pinkovsky, who represented Yanukovych's team on the polling station's election board, wrote the names of voters on ballots and then handed them over, it said. Once the names disappeared, the ballots were invalid and had to be tossed.

Pens with disappearing ink were also discovered at several polling stations in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where Yushchenko also has strong support, Ukrainian media reported.

Saradzhyan reported from Moscow, and Staff Writer Oksana Yablokova contributed to this report from Moscow.

[eluminate]

look thats simply bull ... the east and south have more people then the west period. Odessa, Lugansk, Donetsk, Kharkov, Sevastopol, Simferopol etc.. The population in those regions is more closely tied to Russia because 1. they are basicly even if Ukranian by birth are Russian speakers 2. Most have relatives in Russia. 3. Do not like the nationalistic things Yuschenko propesed like killing off the Russian language teaching in those regions schools. No there weren't over 100% turnouts if you notice both west and the east turned out very very heavily over 80% with a 90% margin for each candidate.

You do realize that the west ergo US and EU are doing an idiotic thing here. For one they are pressing Ukraine into a corner where it might split into two with the east and south either being formed into another country or a more likely scenario rejoining Russia. But if that doesn't happen it will be defintely become ostrosized for electing someone the west doesn't like and will turn to Russia for support. Thats like a no brainer right there. Did we in the US voted for the person Europe wanted? I for one didn't.

They forget to mention that most of the people protesting were driven by bus from Lwov / L'viv yesterday and that there were celebrations in the east & south about Yanukovich winning. So it isn't completely everyone against the gov't elect. Most of my family comes from crimea and I still got relatives living there and I don't think they are upset about this.

[Truth666]

the results - with paper trail and results signed by representatives of each candidate at each polling station
http://www.cvk.gov.ua/wp301ept001f01=501

[Rebelbase]

And the libs here are all whining about how "divided " we are as a nation.

No matter how close an election or vast the differences of opinion, we've seen nothing like what goes on in other countries.

[eluminate]

what about the results? several parts went over 90 for both of the candidates.. so if they go for Yuschenko they should count but if they got for Yanukovich they shouldn't? I stand by my earlier post and I dont understand what are u trying to say. Wish those results were mapped out though gives a better picture.

[Lukasz]

Obviously elections were falsified and commie scum like Kuchma and Yanukovich are trying hide the facts. But they are too stupid, attendance in some eastern regions was over 100%!! Even that moron Lukashenko didn’t have similar problems. I hope that Ukrainians will show us that even such big “Trojan horse” like their Russian minority cannot do nothing. Russians should keep their noses in Russia!!! Main polish opposition party which will start to rule in Poland in next year said that they are NOT accept this results of Ukrainian elections. Nicolae Ceausescu is in my mind now!

[phoenix0468]

The Red Zone wrote:
They mispunch their chadskis?

............................

ROFL. No actually many chadskis were probably never counted.

[eluminate]

the link to the election commision of ukraine shows no turnout over 100%... some close to 92%+ like Lvov for Yuschenko and 92%+ of Donetsk for Yanukovich.

Yes Russians ethnic ones are a minority but Russian speaking Ukranians are a majority. Most of 'Ukranians' in south and east do not speak Ukranian. Most of them do not like the anihillation of the language they speak in the public sphere. They don't want to learn Ukranian or be forced to learn it. I wouldn't mind a peaceful... splitting of Ukrane in half with the western part being given Yuschenko as president, all the resources are in the east anyways and the south is the resourt area. West is barren.

[AdmSmith]

I just got news from Kiev, Yushchenko with his hand on the Bible declared himself President of Ukraine in the parliament. It seems that there will be an open conflict.

[AdmSmith]

Here is an earlier article:
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=10723497

Tymoshenko urges parliament to declare Yushchenko president

KYIV. Nov 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Yulia Tymoshenko, a leader of the Ukrainian radical opposition, has urged parliament to declare Viktor Yushchenko the new Ukrainian president.

Speaking at parliament on Tuesday, Tymoshenko suggested that, after Viktor Yushchenko occupies his post, the Verkhovna Rada should be disbanded and then replaced by honest people's deputies.

She claimed that those attending the Tuesday parliamentary session are true representatives of the Ukrainian people and their interests. "Those who are absent in the hall are traitors who have never represented the Ukrainian people's interests," she said.

Tymoshenko admitted that parliament cannot pass valid rulings on Tuesday as it lacks a quorum.

Tymoshenko also called on those present to express a vote of no confidence in the Central Elections Commission.

Addressing the people, Tymoshenko called on them not to engage in any negotiations with the authorities but "just remove them from their offices," appoint a new government and continue to work.


Comment: He was sworn in just a few minutes ago.

[AdmSmith]

Here is the Russian view:

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/11/23/radasession.shtml

Ukraine's Parliament Fails to Secure Quorum for Election Dispute Session

Created: 23.11.2004 18:14 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:14 MSK,

The Ukrainian parliament, the Rada, opened a special session on Tuesday due to the dispute over the presidential election results.

Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko who lost according to the preliminary information provided by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, called for the session at a rally on Monday.

Only 191 deputies were registered at the session. They are mostly supporters of Yushchenko. Supporters of the other contender, Viktor Yanukovich, were absent as were the communists. The parliament needs at least 226 votes to pass any solution. Opening the debate, parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told deputies: "We are sliding towards the abyss. It is amoral and criminal to pretend nothing is happening in the country. We must act in good time otherwise the people will decide on our behalf tomorrow," Reuters reported.

Parliament does not have the power to annul the elections.

"Ukraine's presidential election has seen an attempted coup d'etat, an illegal seizure of power. This is a crime against the Ukrainian people. We declare Yushchenko to be the legitimate president of Ukraine," Roman Zvarych, a member of Yushchenko's Our Ukraine group, was quoted by the agency as saying at the session.

[AdmSmith]

ping