Yushchenko Launches New Campaign With Call To Pass Anti-Fraud Laws
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KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko kicked off campaigning for the December 26 presidential election rerun yesterday with a call for quick passage of anti-fraud legislation. Supporters signed up by the thousands to monitor balloting and ensure a fair vote.
“We are witnessing a struggle between forces of good and forces of evil,” Mr. Yushchenko told throngs of chanting supporters gathered at Kiev’s main square who were waving his campaign’s orange flags. “The entire world is applauding our victory. The entire world is proud of Ukraine.”
While thousands of pro-Yushchenko demonstrators marked two weeks of a round-the-clock vigil in downtown Kiev, supporters of his rival, Prime Minister Yanukovich, were largely out of sight in eastern regions near Russia – Mr. Yanukovich’s stronghold.
The Moscow-backed Mr. Yanukovich has not been seen in public since Friday’s Supreme Court ruling canceling his November 21 runoff victory over Mr. Yushchenko because of fraud. Yesterday, campaign representatives did not answer repeated phone calls.
The Western-leaning Yushchenko said little about his campaign proposals, but he repeated accusations that outgoing President Kuchma had blocked key electoral changes through his loyalists in this former Soviet republic’s Parliament.
He urged demonstrators to maintain their blockade of official buildings.
“We insist that the Parliament comes back from recess and considers the issues that must ensure a fair, transparent, and democratic vote on December 26,” Mr. Yushchenko said.
The election has led to a tug-of-war between Moscow and the West, which bristled at President Putin’s heavy-handed support for Mr. Yanukovich. Moscow, which considers this nation of 48 million people part of its sphere of influence and a buffer between it and NATO’s eastern flank, fears Ukraine will tilt further to the West under Mr. Yushchenko.
On Saturday, the Parliament, Verkhovna Rada, adjourned for 10 days after pro-government factions blocked opposition-demanded changes.
Mr. Yushchenko said the changes must ban voting by absentee ballot and at home, which he said was used by Mr. Yanukovich supporters to rig the November 21 runoff. The changes also must ensure opposition supporters are represented on election commissions across the nation, he told the rally.
Mr. Yushchenko’s fiery ally, Yulia Tymoshenko, said the public protests that have swept Ukraine have had an impact on the government, leaving less room for official fraud.
“Something has changed, thanks to the people,” she said.
Thousands of protesters clad in Mr. Yushchenko’s campaign color of orange – many grimy after living for two weeks in the sprawling tent camp on a Kiev street – have vowed to remain until new election laws are passed.
“We can stay here until the end,” said Yaroslav Bileko, 19, crawling out of his tent and slipping into an ankle-length black wool coat. “Even though we are tired physically and emotionally, the thought of democracy warms our souls.”
Demonstrators filled out questionnaires yesterday to sign up for jobs as campaigners, monitors, or election commission members. Thousands volunteered to work as monitors and activists in the Yanukovich stronghold region of Donetsk, said Yushchenko campaigner Mykola Moskovsky.
Western observers have documented evidence of vote-rigging in the east in Mr. Yanukovich’s favor, including multiple voting, falsification of voter lists, and abuse of absentee ballots. Mr. Yanukovich’s camp claims it has evidence of voting irregularities in Kiev and some western regions.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said it will deploy a full-fledged observer mission for this month’s rerun. More than 1,000 people plan to arrive from Canada, home to many people of Ukrainian origin, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress said.