Attempted hijacking of democracy
From all available evidence, it appears that top members of the Leonid Kuchma regime walked away unscathed for crimes committed during the 2004 presidential election. But who could forget the Orange Revolution, when massive crowds of peaceful protestors challenged the fraudulent vote? Their determination captured the hearts of many across the globe and prevented Kremlin-endorsed Victor Yanukovych from becoming Ukraine’s president. The protesters gave courage to the Supreme Court, whose justices cancelled the vote and called for a repeat contest, propelling the pro-Western Victor Yushchenko to power.
To the disgust of many, the criminals have never been never brought to justice. The multiple crimes committed during two rounds of presidential elections included illegal use of absentee ballots, ejection of opposition observers, North Korean-style turnout in eastern oblasts, mobile ballot-box fraud, manipulation of computer data to favor Yanukovych, and ballot-box stuffing, according to election observers. There were also reports of vote-buying, intimidation and media manipulation, all of which contributed to making the situation unbearable. Yanukovych ally Serhiy Kivalov, then Central Election Committee chairman, came under suspicion of organizing the fraudulent vote with his associates and reputedly high-ranking aides to Kuchma, including chief of staff Victor Medvedchuk. Four years later, whoever plotted the crime has faced no charges. Kivalov is currently a lawmaker and received a state award a year ago for “his personal contribution to guaranteeing Ukrainian citizens their constitutional right to vote.”
“Not bringing this case to a close means amnesty [for the conspirators] and questions the legitimacy of the repeat vote” that made Yushchenko president, said Serhiy Taran, director of Kyiv’s Sotsiovymir think tank. “If there is no one guilty of fraud [one could argue that] Yushchenko became president illegitimately.”
