UKRAINE: DEMOCRACY TAKES ROOT IN BREZHNEV'S

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KIEV 001245 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM OSCE SUBJECT: UKRAINE: DEMOCRACY TAKES ROOT IN BREZHNEV'S HOMETOWN -- PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN DNIPRODZERZHYNSK (U) Sensitive but unclassified, please handle accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: In a check of 12 polling stations and while observing opening and closing procedures at two others in Dniprodzerzhynsk (Dnipropetrovsk oblast),an Embassy election monitoring team participating with the OSCE/ODIHR election mission found few irregularities March 26-27. The vast majority of election officials appeared committed to ensuring a free and fair vote and vote count. Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions took 50 percent of the vote in the precinct which we "closed" and, with 90 percent of the votes counted, won a 45-percent plurality in Dnipropetrovsk oblast overall. End summary. Brezhnev and the Statue of Liberty -------------- ¶2. (U) Dniprodzerzhynsk is located 45 kilometers northwest of Dnipropetrovsk (city),along both banks of the Dnipro River, with a population of 280,000. On December 19, 1906, future leader of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev was born in the town, then called Kamenskoye. (Note: While ethnically Russian, Brezhnev displayed a distinctively Ukrainian pronunciation all his life.) As befits a town that bears the name of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the feared founder of the CHEKA, the first Soviet secret police, Dniprodzerzhynsk appears still to be looking back nostalgically at its past. The Embassy election observer team stayed on the city's developing left bank, in the Hotel Montana, located on a street with a Ukrainian name that translates into "50 years of the Soviet Union." Judging from photographs in the lobby, wedding couples frequently have their photographs taken mimicking the actions of a post-independence statue in front of the hotel depicting a loin-clothed man (not Brezhnev) and the Statue of Liberty standing together on a globe with clasped hands upraised together. The plaque said the statue was raised to symbolize the hope that the world would move toward greater friendship and peace. ¶3. (SBU) Jarring contradictions continued inside the hotel. On the right was a bust of Brezhnev and on the left, the entrance to the Montana Bar and Cafe, which sported numerous U.S. flags and a plaque of the U.S. Constitution. The hotel room was decorated with the surrealist art of Salvador Dali, while a large mirror with an ornate gilded frame and reproductions of early Renaissance paintings hung on the 
opposite wall. The receptionist's surly attitude and the sparse furnishing and the running toilet in the hotel room, however, were pure Soviet. The Electoral District: tough to manage -------------- ¶4. (SBU) According to District Election Commission (DEC) Chairwoman Vera Mamedova, DEC no. 30 was difficult to manage because of its large area and boundary lines. It included 145 polling stations, of which 108 were large (more than 1,500 voters on the lists),24 average (500 - 1,500 voters), and 13 small (less than 500 voters). Absentee voters could cast their votes at two polling stations, one in Dniprodzerzhynsk and one in the DEC's rural area. Dniprodzerzhynsk city created a large doughnut hole in the electoral district, with the farthest polling station lying 40 miles from the DEC office. Mamedova said that, during this election, political parties were given a lot of power to nominate commission members, but many nominees lacked experience, compounding the DEC's organizational difficulties. Minor Procedural Problems -------------- ¶5. (U) Despite any nostalgia for the past in Dniprodzerzhynsk, election commissions were focused on the parliamentary and local elections and appeared to carry out their duties conscientiously. We observed elections at 12 polling stations, including one restricted access facility located in a women's prison. There were no indications of gross violations or serious misconduct, and the voting process appeared to be free and fair. Common problems included overcrowded polling facilities, long lines, and voters who chose to vote outside the voting booth, thus potentially compromising the secrecy of the ballot. When asked if the polling stations were provided with all necessary materials (voter lists, ballot boxes, ballot papers, protocols, etc.),only one polling station commission (PSC) chairman informed us that he photocopied missing control slips by borrowing them from a neighboring polling location. At one polling station, the commission chairwoman told us initially that all voting materials had been received, but during the closing procedure, it turned out that her polling station was provided only 15 special sorting bags even though there were 45 parties listed on the ballot. As a result, ballots were wrapped in party program sheets that had been posted in the lobby. ¶6. (U) Election officials generally worked hard to overcome problems not of their making. At the polling station whose opening we observed, the PSC grappled with how to adjust municipal ballots after learning at 3:00 a.m. that morning that a court had disqualified the Reforms and Order Party from the city elections. Per election law amendments, the party's name had to be canceled with a stamp, and the PSC did so for an initial tranche, but the extra work caused the polling station to open a half-hour late. Voters often had difficulty deciphering the multiple, two-foot-long ballots. As a result, each voter often took around twenty minutes to vote, particularly in precincts with a high percentage of elderly. ¶7. (SBU) The PSCs we observed followed election law and procedures. At all polling stations visited, political parties' agendas were displayed clearly at the entrance (as allowed),but there was no active campaigning or voter intimidation visible. Commission chairs were generally friendly and welcomed us. In one polling station, however, a commission chairman continued to bird-dog us after explaining the station's lay-out and procedures. At another, the commission chairman tried discourage us from visiting a neighboring polling station located in the same building. (Note: We visited that neighboring polling station and found nothing untoward.) In crowded polling stations, the general atmosphere was tense, with people growing impatient. In one of the crowded polling stations, when we tried to see if identification documents were checked properly, several waiting voters became agitated, saying that international observers were not needed and only meddled in the process. The Final Result: Straightforward count, Regions victory -------------- -------------- ¶8. (U) PSC 86 worked well together, closing precisely at 10:00 p.m. and quickly settling down to the task of counting ballots. There was no disagreement over a small number of disqualified ballots; despite the late hour, the PSC succeeded in reconciling signatures, ballots, and counterfoils after recounting ballots twice more after the initial tally. Since the DEC had not provided party labels to be used in separating the ballots, the PEC chairwomen called out the party or bloc's number on the ballot. The actual count of the national parliament (Verkhovna Rada) ballots was over by 2:45 a.m., but packaging the ballots and preparation of the protocol took an additional 90 minutes. ¶9. (U) At PSC 86, Party of Regions received 50 percent (481 votes) of the 941 votes cast, Bloc Yuliya Tymoshenko was a distant second with 14 percent (135 votes),and Our Ukraine bloc third with 5.8 percent (55 votes). The Communist Party received 30 votes, surpassed by Viche's 35 votes, but more than the Socialist Party's 27 votes and Bloc Nataliya Vitrenko's 25 votes. Lytvyn's Bloc received 21 votes; Pora-PRP, 12 votes; and Ne Tak, just 9. (Note: In the third round of the 2004 presidential vote, Dniprodzerzhynsk voted 70 percent in favor of Yanukovych, a strong win but not as large as in a few oblasts further east and south. As elsewhere, voter disenchantment with President Yuschenko appeared to have caused voters to favor BYuT. The PSC 86 Chairwoman, as she escorted the Embassy observation team out, appeared embarrassed by the result. She explained that the high percentage of pensioners meant the region was especially conservative politically and ready to believe in Party of Regions' promises. She expressed hope, however, that the political dynamic would change over time.) ¶10. (U) Visit Embassy Kiev's classified website: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev. Herbst