Recent polls suggest that Communists will win the most seats of any party in the March 29 parliamentary elections. The same polls make it clear that the next Rada will likely be as divided as the current one: a crowd of reactionaries and a clutch of liberals sandwiched around an inert mass of cynical opportunists. And no matter who wins, and who loses, the weak and fractious Rada will not overnight turn into an institution capable of pulling the country out of its depression.
o why are we going to spend the next five weeks covering this election like it matters? Because it does. emocracy is not about political convenience. And, God knows, it is not often about lofty principle. But even dirty mean-spirited campaigns like the one that probably awaits us are rescued from irrelevance by the overriding principle that people, however imperfect their options, are entitled to pick their government. This election matters because it affirms that idea in a land where the concept is still a novelty. This election matters because while it may not produce the result that Ukraine needs it might at least illuminate what Ukraine wants.
hat will be the focus of the Post's reporting staff as it hits the campaign trail for a series of stories that debuts in this issue with Viktor Luhovyk's overview of party politics. Sure, we will interview the politicians. But we will also talk to ordinary Ukrainians in the regions about their aspirations and frustrations. We will publish analysis and breaking news, regional profiles and features from the capital, other major cities and villages you've never heard of.
nd when the shouting stops and the numbers are tallied, the pundits will likely say it was all for nothing. Within the time frame politicians use to plot their strategy, the pundits may even turn out to be right. It will take history books whose authors are still in diapers to show conclusively that, in the long run, they were wrong.
