Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KIEV1245
2006-03-29 16:00:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Kyiv
Cable title:  

UKRAINE: DEMOCRACY TAKES ROOT IN BREZHNEV'S

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KDEM OSCE 
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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.

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