Ukrainian officials say they will install webcams at polling stations for the Oct. 28 parliamentary elections to help ensure honesty in the election and prevent allegations of fraud from the political opposition.
President Viktor Yanukovych, whose democratic credentials in the West are – to say the least – suspect, promises a clean vote to choose the new 450-seat legislature, in which his Party of Regions now has the largest share.
Yet analysts are skeptical that video surveillance – seen by many as a PR stunt rather than honest attempt at keeping the election fair – would suffice to ensure that the pre-election period and voting is actually fair.
Ahead of the August summer break, Yanukovych’s ruling majority in parliament adopted legislation to dole out about $125 million to the Central Election Commission to purchase and install webcams in all 34,000 polling stations throughout Ukraine.
Russia, which used a similar solution during its presidential elections in March, was cited as an inspiration for the law.
Russia’s use of webcams “is a very positive experience. Of course, it promotes transparency and democratic electoral process. Webcams need to be installed,” said Volodymyr Zubanov, a lawmaker from the pro-presidential Party of Regions, which now has the largest share of seats.
Yet international observers did not describe Russia’s elections as free and fair.
Ukraine managed to hold votes internationally recognized free and fair from Dec. 26, 2004, the presidential election (which Yanukoych lost), through the 2010 presidential election (which he won).
But since taking power, U.S.-based Freedom House and Western diplomats are concerned by Yanukovych’s broad rollback of democratic freedoms, which included local elections in 2010 seen as flawed.
Ukrainian lawmakers who supported the bill say that such measures are necessary to prevent allegations that the election results will be fixed.
“We resort to this action because our opponents are now preparing films about how we stuff ballot boxes,” said Oleksandr Yefremov, head of the Party of Regions faction in the parliament.
He added that they have to cover the entire country with satellite connection to launch these cameras.
Opposition leader Arseniy Yatseniuk said he fears these video cameras might be used to intimidate people and ensure favorable votes.
Analysts also questioned the feasibility of setting up online live broadcasting for all Ukrainian polling stations.
Moreover, the law states that webcams will not be filming the vote count, which, according to experts, is one of the most important parts in elections.
An analysis of the bill by U.S.-funded OPORA, one of the two largest election monitoring groups in Ukraine, concludes that such legal “framework cannot become a serious obstacle to violations and prevent falsifications” during elections.
Olha Ayvazovska, OPORA’s head, also pointed out that it did not help Russia make its elections more transparent: “Cameras [during elections in Russia] caught people dropping multiple ballots in boxes, but law enforcement did nothing about it.”
Oleksandr Chernenko, head of Committee of Voter of Ukraine, an election watchdog, is also skeptical that webcams will help ensure transparency.
He said cameras could catch some violations, but static cameras will not cover much and, therefore, could miss many violations. “I would not overestimate [the law’s] efficiency,” he added.
The massive operation of connecting thousands of polling stations to the Internet, has raised concerns the about how the funds are spent.
“It is still not clear how efficiently this billion will be spent,” said Ayvazovska.
“Most likely, such a big project – across the country – can only be done by Ukrtelecom [Ukraine’s monopoly telecom company]. But it has become a private company. Does this mean the state finances Ukrtelecom’s development at [the country’s] expense? At a price of Hr 1-1.5 billion,” Maksym Savanevsky, Internet communications analyst, wrote in his blog earlier this month.
Ukrtelecom was privatized last year in a largely non-competitive tender to Austria’s Epic Invest.
The Austrian company has denied claims and suspicions of some Ukrainian experts and investment bankers that it is acting as a front for domestic or Russian business interests.
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said that the webcams will be used after the elections by the police to conduct video surveillance on streets.
But instead of using the webcams as part of a Big Brother-style control over average citizens, a Facebook user suggested to Azarov that they should instead be installed in government offices so that officials could be held more accountable to citizens.
Azarov responded through Facebook saying: “a very interesting idea,” but warned that this can only be done in a way that prevents disclosure of “state secrets.”
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected].
