Hard ways to the political Olympus
13.12.2002 source: Eco-bulletin „Dikoye pole“, No. 7, 2002
Disgusting scenes are described by an eye-witness how some youths broke the slots of the ballot boxes and threw there packs of extra bulletins, how the head of a voting commission hurriedly filled in 300 bulletins in the locked office, how the OSCE observers were attacked and so on, and so forth.
For the fifth time I set my pen to describe what happened on the 31 March and for the fifth time my pen is helpless. Each of you, of course, tried to be off this filth. We, members of the ecological club „Bakhmat“, also decided to stand aside lies and tricks of political yes-men. We proposed the candidates to improve the environment: to hang nestling boxes, to plant trees and to clear away the garbage. The only affair we decided to be involved in was the observation over the fairness of the election at electoral stations on the voting day in the capacity of representatives of the Voters Committee of Ukraine. „Ecologically clean election“ – why not? And we unthinkingly made a decisive step. The first thing we observed having come to the stations were trembling fingers and evasive looks of the heads of electoral commissions. Further you will understand that it was not a mere hangover after a week-long boozing away the electoral funds. Then we were somewhat surprised by the excessive number of observers from „For united Ukraine“ and the related organizations. The made the majority, and they aggressively suppressed any attempts of protest. Now we understood why so many candidates from the same political force were put out in one majority electoral district. As always, senile representatives of the communist party were dozing in the corner, but the representatives of „Yabloko“ and Social-Democratic party (united) honestly tries to work off their 20-30 hryvnas. A curator from the executive committee was appended to every commission, who gave order whether to permit an observer to be present, where he must be seated, how to react to his remarks, etc. (which is a brutal violations of the laws). Several ballot boxes were already sealed before our arrival, and only God knows what was within. Most observers were seated far from the ballot boxes and observed the voters’ backs. Rubber plants decorated the interior and shielded the actions of the commission members. At first everything was quiet. We were treated politely and provided with all needed data. Then the circus began. After midday the number of voters registered by observers and the number, which the commission passed to the district commission, stopped to coincide. The divergence was increasing more and more. At noon the divergence was 50 people, and by the end of the day the number grew to 300! The same occurred at all electoral stations. Then a new kind of violations appeared: everywhere people were caught, who tries to squeeze into ballot boxes thick piles of unaccounted bulletins. At one of the stations a young man was caught, who already managed to squeeze into the box 100 bulletins and tried to squeeze in another hundred. Sometimes this was done by members or heads of electoral commission, or by independent observers. When one of independent lady-observers screamed: „What are you doing, you, swindlers!“, she was bodily put out by militiamen. The commission voted to prohibit the screamer to be present at the station. Our representative caught a young man, who tried in vain to squeeze in the ballot box 11 sets of bulletins (55 sheets). Members of „Yabloko“ and even one boy from „For united Ukraine“ took part in the capture. The boy from „For united Ukraine“ was somewhat amazed, when it appeared that all the extra bulletins were for his bloc. The stupid boy dissolved as if in the thin air. The culprit was passed to militiamen. He tried to get away and cried: „I have done it dozens of times! For this kind of money I will sell my own mother!“ It is interesting that in this and similar cases any complaints were not accepted by district commissions, and if they were accepted, they were somehow lost. Naturally, the organizers of this circus made use of the weak knowledge of laws by the observers and mainly of the Great Terror for themselves and their kin. The Great Terror had been implanted for decades, and the short instructions to be honest did not help. When the head of the district commission told that there were no violations at his stations, I asked him: „And what about this captured boy, who was passed to militia?“ I got the answer: „Those, who captured him, took back their complaint. And the boy confessed that he was paid by the united social party members to set this provocation“. We communicated with the oblast Headquarters of the Voters’ committee and were astonished: THIS NIGHTMARE WAS OBSERVED THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE DONETSK OBLAST!
Adding extra bulletins occurred everywhere. To this end 300 bulletins were directed to each station. It rumors that the number of dollars paid for this was also 300.
In Druzhkovka a representative of „Yabloko“ jumped on the back of a man, who was trying to squeeze into a ballot box a thick pack of bulletins. The representative, in his turn, was saddled by a militiaman and the commission head and beaten. Meanwhile, the lowest culprit widened the slot in the box with his fist, put the bulletins inside and ran away. No complaints were received from this electoral station.
In Yasinovataya, after an electoral station was closed at 20:00, the head of the commission disappeared. At the same time she is the principal of the school, where the station was situated. She was sought for a long time, until someone guessed to break the door of the principal’s office. They saw an intriguing picture: the commission head was feverishly putting tics in 300 bulletins. Certainly, there were no complaints about the work of this electoral station. At one of the voting stations in Gorlovka at the moment of dumping the bulletins from the ballot boxes the electric light went out. This is not an extraordinary event in our part of the world. In Dimitrov other problems were observed. A voting station was vandalized by skinheads, ballot boxes were crashed. It is now impossible to prove what happened with the contents. Foreign observers from the OSCE in Donetsk noticed a Gazel van, which went from one station to another bringing there a group of young men, who did something around ballot boxes. The observers decided to tail the van. When they came to a dead-end the Gazel stopped and two white Zhiguli cars blocked the way out. Skinheads armed with baseball bats went from the cars and, putting a knife to the driver’s throat, ordered everyone to leave the OSCE car. They collected documents and cellular phones. Yet, having heard that this will provoke a serious scandal, the attackers phoned to their bosses and let the foreign observers go. Who can call an election this idiotic happening?
We were raped for the umpteenth time after the last presidential election, referendum „on the people’s initiative“, coercive recruiting to the newly created Party of Regions, etc. Scanty pennies were given to the paupers for their voices. Puppeteer imported Russian specialists in black PR and they developed „the new technologies“. By the way, the executives of the party „For united Ukraine“ were observed to oscillate between Moscow and Ukraine. Did they bring from Moscow only wisdom, or money too? Look at the smug faces of Chernomyrdin and the like, who praise the Ukrainian election! They had reasons to pay the fight against a westerner Yushchenko.
To conclude, I may say only one thing. Everyone, who participated in this happening – both organizers and executors – are not mere criminals, who should get 5-8 years of incarceration, they are GUILTY OF THE HIGH TREASON!
And you, dear readers should subtract 20% of the votes from „For united Ukraine“ (300 extra bulletins per every station in the Donetsk oblast) and count what they would get in the actual fact. All this made me wander at nights around the city and paste stealthily leaflets of protest like in 1989.
Adding extra bulletins occurred everywhere. To this end 300 bulletins were directed to each station. It rumors that the number of dollars paid for this was also 300.
In Druzhkovka a representative of „Yabloko“ jumped on the back of a man, who was trying to squeeze into a ballot box a thick pack of bulletins. The representative, in his turn, was saddled by a militiaman and the commission head and beaten. Meanwhile, the lowest culprit widened the slot in the box with his fist, put the bulletins inside and ran away. No complaints were received from this electoral station.
In Yasinovataya, after an electoral station was closed at 20:00, the head of the commission disappeared. At the same time she is the principal of the school, where the station was situated. She was sought for a long time, until someone guessed to break the door of the principal’s office. They saw an intriguing picture: the commission head was feverishly putting tics in 300 bulletins. Certainly, there were no complaints about the work of this electoral station. At one of the voting stations in Gorlovka at the moment of dumping the bulletins from the ballot boxes the electric light went out. This is not an extraordinary event in our part of the world. In Dimitrov other problems were observed. A voting station was vandalized by skinheads, ballot boxes were crashed. It is now impossible to prove what happened with the contents. Foreign observers from the OSCE in Donetsk noticed a Gazel van, which went from one station to another bringing there a group of young men, who did something around ballot boxes. The observers decided to tail the van. When they came to a dead-end the Gazel stopped and two white Zhiguli cars blocked the way out. Skinheads armed with baseball bats went from the cars and, putting a knife to the driver’s throat, ordered everyone to leave the OSCE car. They collected documents and cellular phones. Yet, having heard that this will provoke a serious scandal, the attackers phoned to their bosses and let the foreign observers go. Who can call an election this idiotic happening?
We were raped for the umpteenth time after the last presidential election, referendum „on the people’s initiative“, coercive recruiting to the newly created Party of Regions, etc. Scanty pennies were given to the paupers for their voices. Puppeteer imported Russian specialists in black PR and they developed „the new technologies“. By the way, the executives of the party „For united Ukraine“ were observed to oscillate between Moscow and Ukraine. Did they bring from Moscow only wisdom, or money too? Look at the smug faces of Chernomyrdin and the like, who praise the Ukrainian election! They had reasons to pay the fight against a westerner Yushchenko.
To conclude, I may say only one thing. Everyone, who participated in this happening – both organizers and executors – are not mere criminals, who should get 5-8 years of incarceration, they are GUILTY OF THE HIGH TREASON!
And you, dear readers should subtract 20% of the votes from „For united Ukraine“ (300 extra bulletins per every station in the Donetsk oblast) and count what they would get in the actual fact. All this made me wander at nights around the city and paste stealthily leaflets of protest like in 1989.