President praises country for choosing democratic course.
Ukraine delivered a resounding “No” to communism on Nov. 14, re-electing Leonid Kuchma president for a second five-year term.
Kuchma won 56.25 percent of the vote, capitalizing on a well-planned campaign that presented him as the defender of Ukraine’s independence and democratic freedoms, and characterized the communists as throwbacks who wanted to return Ukraine to its grim Soviet past.
Kuchma’s challenger in the second round, Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko, offered little to counter Kuchma’s attacks, and earned only 37.8 percent of the vote in the Nov. 14 poll.
An impressive 74 percent of voters, or 28.2 million people, turned out for the poll – 5 percent more than during the first-round vote Oct. 31, according to the Central Election Commission.
Kuchma’s margin over Symonenko was similar in both rounds. In the first round, Kuchma beat out 12 other presidential contenders, finishing first with 36 percent of the vote and leaving Symonenko trailing in second place with 22 percent.
‘Ukraine and Ukrainians have chosen a democratic course for their country, one based on a free-market economy,’ Kuchma said the day after his victory.
He said people who cast their ballots for Symonenko voted not for communism but rather against the hardship of their lives.
‘They voted against today’s life, especially the older generation,’ Kuchma said.
Since winning the 1994 election, Kuchma has presided over a sharp economic decline, which saw the economy contract by some 25 percent amid growing poverty and unemployment.
However, Kuchma downplays his role in the economic decline. He blames parliament for obstructing his reform plans and says Ukraine inherited dire economic problems after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Nov. 14 vote reinforced the traditional division of Ukraine into the pro-communist east and the nationalist and staunchly anti-communist west.
In the western oblasts of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Lviv, a record number of voters – about 92 percent – gave their votes to Kuchma.
Symonenko received a mere 5 percent of votes in each of those regions, but scored a majority in several central and eastern oblasts, as well as in Crimea.
Kuchma took note of the division and promised after the election that he would not differentiate between those who voted for him and those who voted against him.
‘Ukrainians – they are all mine, and I do not wish to divide them into leftists and rightists. They are all Ukrainian people,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Symonenko did not dispute the outcome of the vote, but said he did not consider his performance in the election to be a defeat.
‘I’m convinced that it was not we, but democracy, that suffered defeat,’ Symonenko told a press conference Nov. 15.
He alleged that a massive anti-communist campaign in the media, launched by the authorities ahead of the run-off vote, had prevented the electorate from making an unbiased choice.
‘But despite the tough pressure, almost 40 percent of people showed their disagreement with the course of reform implemented in Ukraine,’ Symonenko said.
The Communist leader said his party would continue to oppose the president and would not participate in forming a new government, as required by Ukraine’s constitution.
The Communist Party has the largest faction in parliament, controlling 123 of the legislature’s 450 seats.
Together with other leftist factions, it can muster enough votes to block approval of government bills.
However, the anti-Kuchma legislative coalition may not turn out as strong as expected, since some of Symonenko’s allies in the leftist camp have already condemned him for failing to cooperate during the election campaign.
‘Communists have effectively helped Leonid Kuchma to come to power today’, said Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz, who finished third in the first round with 12 percent of the vote.
Moroz, who had unsuccessfully negotiated with Symonenko to withdraw in his favor after the first-round vote, said that Symonenko had failed to team up with him and other leftist and centrist candidates to oppose the ‘criminal regime.’
While the leftists were trading accusations, Kuchma was preparing for his inauguration ceremony on Nov. 30. The president has already begun to reveal his plans for his next term as president.
Kuchma said he would act promptly and decisively to speed up economic reforms, work to form a pro-government parliamentary majority and negotiate rescheduling of Ukraine’s mounting foreign debt.
‘All is standing idle,’ Kuchma said, acknowledging that economic reforms in Ukraine have been stalled for years.
Kuchma’s stated willingness to proceed with reforms might boost Ukraine’s international reputation, which was damaged immediately after the election when international observers said the vote had been riddled with violations.
Representatives of the Council of Europe suggested that foreign aid for Ukraine should be withheld until Kuchma takes measures to root out corruption and improve Ukraine’s democratic record.
‘Support for Ukraine from the international community … must be conditional on the passing of new laws on an end to abuses of the state administration, and on the establishment of a common ground for democracy,’ said Hanna Severinsen, head of the Council of Europe election observers’ delegation.
