“Being the president, it is my first election and there is no other person who would be more interested in holding the elections in a democratic and fair manner,” Viktor Yanukovych said about a month ago. And now, several days until the elections, the elections are a far cry from being “fair and democratic.” Probably all the political forces complained to the Central Election Committee (though certainly not the Party of Regions), about violations of electoral legislation. The complaints are coming both from the right and left bank of Dnipro, from opponents and allies alike.
According to the Vice-Speaker Mykola Tomenko, the process of censoring known local politicians started in the regions. “We are not even talking about Batkivshchyna! Everyone became used to the angry statements of the opposition. Recently the Donetsk communists had a meeting about the ‘lawlessness’ of the Party of Regions. Mykola Kravchenko, the first secretary of the regional committee of Communist Party, stated that the local authority of the Donetsk region subjects to pressure, threatens and blackmails the CPU candidates to the local councils.”
When the ruling party snubs the opposition, it is understandable but why spoil relationships with loyal political forces? The political scientist Viktor Nebozhenko found an explanation to this phenomenon.
The local election is some kind of preparation for the future parliamentary election. It is very important for the Party of Regions to be supported by the Russian parliament’s majority. That is why they need only controllable allies. They do not want to get involved with the communists or Tihipko. They only want their people. Now they are sabotaging the results of ‘younger’ allies so that the latter would not ask for the seats in the Verkhovna Rada. That is the main reason.
“By smashing all the political opponents and friends the Party of Regions is hurting the elections as an institution. Its content is being erased. Next time the people will say, ‘You vote or you don’t – they will count the votes the way the authority wants.’”
