By Tetiana Korobova, The Day
Falsification. This word was heard where and whenever two or more Central Election Committee people gathered out of others’ earshot during the 24 hours following the elections. CEC was deadlocked summing up preliminary estimates, now and then coming out with incomplete on-line data. This “arithmetic” made one wonder. CEC records showed that 25,973,171 voters had received ballots by 10 p.m. March 29. The announcement made April 1 pointed to 316,273 ballots in excess of the number recorded as issued. Carelessness? Incompetence? Maybe so.
Now something out of science fiction. After 48 hours Anatoly Matviyenko passed muster in majority District #17. On March 30, CEC announced another candidate, Hutsol, the winner. On March 31 it transpired that Hutsol had collected 7.34% of the votes, but the head of Vinnytsia’s state administration (one of the ruling NDP leaders) turned up with 27% (sic). Media people in the CEC conference hall took this as a good joke, trying to picture how the local election committee was feeling now that they had goofed, missing the local chief’s triumph and supplying CEC with misleading information. They laughed and CEC head Mykhailo Riabets grinned. Which was good, because media people hate being taken for a ride by someone with a wise daddy somber look.
Another “miracle” was worked when Refat Chubarov won in District #8 while CEC announced another winner, Volodymyr Shkaberin. One can only welcome Chubarov as a Deputy, because the man is a clever, diplomatic politician, but how could he have possibly gathered 17% against Skaberin’s newly discovered 12.97% after all those Crimean Tatar upheavals, the populace intimidated by local authorities, with part of the Tatars denied the right to vote, and the previous official announcement that Chubarov was ahead in only three electorates? Puzzling. Inexplicable. On the other hand, those in office foamed at the mouth visualizing Mustafa Dzhemiliev, head of the Mejlis, getting into Parliament via Rukh rosters. The man has a sharp tongue and seldom thinks twice before using it. He makes no secret of what he thinks of the inept government and its local representatives. They had to have a buffer. Now they had Chubarov. A perfect one. Seventeen percent? They would give him seventy!
Falsification. The word was uppermost in everyone’s mind as journalists, CEC officials, and observers waited for results. They were slow in coming but there seemed a reliable information source at the Presidential Administration. Among other things, Yevhen Kushnariov told Polish journalists that the United Social Democrats had problems climbing over the 4% barrier and that most likely they would never get there. They did.
At a press conference (2 a.m. April 1) journalists asked Mykhailo Riabets to explain what that 4% barrier was all about, what was its exact value now that they knew the total number of voters, and how come it continued to climb compared to the figures he had previously announced? He could offer no satisfactory explanations. The most likely reason was because the number of voters turned out larger after the elections (as mentioned in the opening paragraph).
Journalists also struggled to figure out what made almost half a million voters with ballots, often received after standing in line, leave polling stations, allegedly taking the ballots with them “as mementos.” No one could take seriously Riabets’ explanation that “Deputies did this, too, when voting in Verkhovna Rada.” The observers present voiced surprise. They had not noticed any voters bent for collecting crisp sheets with the names of candidates and parties. The only logical explanation is that if 500,000 ballots were withdrawn as “wrong” and then filed away as “unused” nobody would have any problems, because the lists had voters’ signatures testifying that the ballots had indeed been issued.
Considering this undisguised, even demonstrative frame-up, another obvious conclusion is that the struggle against the mixed ballot and Parliament itself is not over. Now they have another chance to destroy Parliament using the parties; after several loud falsification scandals the elections will be declared invalid.
All this is very sad. Ukrainian media people, tired of waiting for information, unable to do anything about the situation, sickened by what they saw and realized, hang around CEC. Suddenly someone remarked loudly that it was the night of April Fools Day. And as if by some devilish scheme CEC made the final official announcement on that date. A big sick joke in a state where no one jokes any longer about the need to replace everybody in office.
