UKRAINE: ELECTION RESULTS OVER 97 PERCENT; PARTIES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIEV 001243 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/29/2016 TAGS: PGOV PINR KDEM PHUM RU SUBJECT: UKRAINE: ELECTION RESULTS OVER 97 PERCENT; PARTIES UNDER THRESHOLD CALL FOR RECOUNT Classified By: POL Counselor Aubrey Carlson for reasons 1.4(a,b,d). ¶1. (C) Summary: With over 97 percent of the national parliamentary vote tallied by 6 pm March 29, opposition Party of Regions continued to lead with 31.8 percent of the vote, followed by Yuliya Tymoshenko's Bloc (BYuT) at 22.4 percent, and President Yushchenko's Our Ukraine at 14.1 percent. Five parties not reaching the three-percent threshold called for a nationwide recount. Coalition talks among major parties continued, and many of the Our Ukraine election bloc member parties called for an Orange coalition, or at least a democratic one founded on common goals. Presidential chief of staff Rybachuk told us March 28 that incumbent Kiev mayor Omelchenko had contacted Our Ukraine to plead for support in fixing the Kiev mayoral election after it became apparent he was losing his reelection bid. End summary. Official Results - nearly 98 percent now in -------------- ¶2. (U) CEC official results continued to come slowly throughout the day March 29. With 97.86 percent of precincts reporting as of 1820, the official vote tally stood at: Regions 31.86 percent Tymoshenko 22.34 Our Ukraine 14.10 Socialists 5.75 Communists 3.65 -------------- 3% threshold -------------- Vitrenko 2.86 Lytvyn 2.44 Kostenko-Plyushch 1.90 Viche 1.71 PORA-PRP 1.47 Coalition Talks -------------- ¶3. (U) As party heads carried on coalition talks, leaders of the member parties of the Our Ukraine electoral bloc were voicing their support for a democratic coalition, with some specifying Orange parties and others more ambiguous in their statements. The Our Ukraine political council released a press statement March 28 backing the creation of a democratic coalition. Prime Mininster Yekhanurov summarized the council's meeting, noting that the coalition had to be given a framework in a memorandum. The council was scheduled to meet again March 29 to work out additional details, anticipating that a coalition could be announced on the day when the CEC announces final results. ¶4. (U) Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (PIE) leader (and National Security and Defense Council Secretary) Anatoliy Kinakh said his party supported a democratic coalition that would support President Yushchenko's program. Head of the Christian Democratic Union Volodymyr Stretovych specifically noted that the democratic coalition should include Our Ukraine, BYuT, and the Socialist Party, and further called for the abolition of Rada deputy immunity. Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk, leader of Rukh, the People's Movement of Ukraine, and Oleksiy Ivchenko, head of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, also endorsed the formation of a trilateral Maidan coalition. Tarasyuk did not rule out other parties joining, but specified that Regions could only join if it gave up on federalism and state language status for Russian and endorsed European integration. ¶5. (U) The Socialist Party made public March 29 a memorandum setting down principles for a coalition between OU, BYuT and themselves. The memorandum, which foresaw signing a coalition agreement on the day the Rada opened its first session, set down principles of Ukraine's strategic course to Europe and stable relations with Russia and other neighbors. The participants in the coalition would promise to coordinate their programs with the President and prepare a domestic and foreign policy document for Rada approval. In addition, the coalition would have to prepare an action plan within 30 days and submit it to parliament. The participants would be obliged not to engage in separate talks with any other party or bloc, and decisions would be based on consensus of the coalition. Deputy Socialist Party leader Yosyp Vinskyy publicly ruled out a Socialist Party coalition with Regions. Losers demand recounts -------------- ¶6. (U) Inna Bohoslovska (Viche),Lyudmila Suprun (People's Democratic Party),Vladyslav Kaskiv (Pora),and Ihor Yeremeev (Lytvyn-led People's bloc),all representing parties failing to meet the three percent threshold for Rada representation, held a joint press conference at 2 pm, demanding a nationwide recount of votes in the Rada elections. At a separate press conference on 28 March, People's Opposition bloc leader Vitrenko claimed mass falsification in the vote count and warned of an international conspiracy. The Crimean branch of People's Union Our Ukraine, meanwhile, called for invalidation of the elections to the Crimean parliament, claiming that its observers had documented that at 14 polling stations in Crimea voters had not been given ballots for the Crimean parlimentary election. Kiev Elections: incumbent getting the boot -------------- ¶7. (C) Official results of the Kiev mayoral election, with 83.98 percent of the vote counted by 1400 March 29, continued to show Our Ukraine MP Chernovetskyy in the lead with 31.8 percent of the vote, followed by ex-World Boxing Champion and Pora-PRP candidate Klychko with 23.82 percent, and incumbent mayor Omelchenko with 21.17 percent. (Note: Reftel's previously reported vote counts by Pora's website appear to have been parallel vote counts based on precinct reports.) In a March 28 meeting, presidential chief of staff Rybachuk told us that Kiev Mayor Omelchenko had contacted Our Ukraine after it became clear that he was losing his re-election race. Rybachuk said that Omelchenko wanted to cook the results and was looking to Our Ukraine for support. Rybachuk implied that Our Ukraine had not responded to, and thus had rejected, Omelchenko's plea. Kiev campaign chair for Pora-PRP candidate Klychko, Volodymyr Bondarenko, told DELO newspaper March 28 that Mayor Omelchenko was removing documents from his office. ¶8. (U) In the Kiev City Rada election, BYuT was strongly in the lead at 1500 March 29, with 80.27 percent of the vote counted: BYuT 24.67 percent Chernovetskyy 12.85 OU 8.88 PORA-PRP 8.54 Regions 5.57 Kiev People's Aktyv 4.06 Socialists 3.98 Lytvyn Bloc 3.64 ¶9. (U) Visit Embassy Kiev's classified website: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev. Herbst