An unfortunate yet timely event overseas helps underscore the troubles with our own "election". When are international elections monitors going to call bullshit on Ohio and Florida? Or were they outduped by the CIA operatives who helped steal the election for Bush (in 2000 too)? In solidarity.. :o

Front page NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/internat.../23ukraine.html

Premier Victor in Ukraine Vote; Abuses Are Seen

By C. J. CHIVERS
Published: November 23, 2004

KIEV, Ukraine, Nov. 22 - Ukraine approached a political stalemate on Monday, as vote counts of the presidential runoff election indicated that Prime Minister Viktor F. Yanukovich had won but international observers alleged systemic voting abuses and the opposition candidate refused to accept defeat.

With more than 99 percent of ballots counted, the government tally gave Mr. Yanukovich 49.42 percent of the vote to 46.7 percent for Viktor A. Yushchenko, whose supporters turned out in the tens of thousands in Independence Square here, vowing not to move until results were reversed.

"To victory!" said Nina Kovalevskaya, 53, who stood in the cold Monday evening air. "To our victory!"

With the opposition filling the landmark square, an international election observer mission - from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Parliament, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe - released a preliminary report that buoyed them, declaring that the election did not meet democratic standards.

The observers' findings were seconded by Senator Richard G. Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who had led an American mission to Ukraine to urge the departing president, Leonid D. Kuchma, to organize fair elections.

"A concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse was enacted with either the leadership or cooperation of governmental authorities," the senator said Monday in Kiev.

At stake is not only the prize of the presidency of a nation of nearly 48 million, but also the direction of the overwhelmingly Slavic country during the next five-year presidential term. The outcome will decide whether Ukraine will draw closer to Russia, its historical and cultural partner, or move toward greater economic and military integration with the West.

Mr. Yanukovich is the personally selected successor of Mr. Kuchma, a former Soviet technocrat who ruled the country in a centralized fashion for 10 years, amid sometimes tense relations with Washington and allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

The prime minister has vowed to continue on Mr. Kuchma's course, and to steer the county closer to Moscow. The Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, telephoned Mr. Yanukovich on Monday from an official visit to Brazil to congratulate him, according to Interfax.

Mr. Yushchenko, himself a former prime minister, has described the incumbent bloc of state power as crooked and hidebound, and pledged to maintain ties with Russia while encouraging business and expanding Ukraine's relationship westward into Europe.

His support in the capital, and among young voters, is palpably high. His campaign - deprived of equal media coverage and pressured by the resources of the Ukrainian state, according to the reports of international observers - has adopted the tactics of the underdog.

The victory for the prime minister, by a margin of nearly 3 percentage points, that was given in official results diverged sharply from a range of surveys of voters at polling places that gave the opposition as much as an 11-point lead. Opposition organizers pushed for protest and mass action.

Mr. Yushchenko, addressing the public, began a multipronged effort to block Mr. Yanukovich's claim on office. He urged his supporters to remain united and in the streets, and called for an urgent session of Parliament to review extensive allegations of state manipulation of the election, and for the judiciary to investigate documented complaints.

"We express no confidence in the Central Election Commission because of its being a passive, or maybe a too active, participant in falsifications," he said.

Yulia Tymoshenko, a member of Parliament and one of Mr. Yushchenko's most visible supporters, called for a general strike.

Still, even while Mr. Yushchenko supporters tried to force a political confrontation, the state maintained a position of official calm. It appeared to have the upper hand through the crucial first day. The prime minister's once-crowded campaign headquarters declared victory and closed down before lunch.

"We won, and we are going to sleep," said Gennady P. Korz, a senior campaign spokesman.

And while the demonstration grew, the police presence in the capital remained light. State security agencies did release a joint statement saying they were on high alert.

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http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/112304L.shtml

Ukraine Slips into Election Crisis
By David Holley
The Los Angeles Times

Monday 22 November 2004

Kiev, Ukraine - This country slipped into a deepening crisis today as preliminary official results show Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich winning a bitter presidential election, as opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko brought supporters into the streets to press his claim to be the true winner.

"Remain where you are," Yushchenko told a crowd of about 50,000 supporters at central Kiev's Independence Square this morning. "From all parts of Ukraine, on carts, cars, planes and trains tens of thousands of people are on their way here. Our action is only beginning."

Tens of thousands of protesters remained at the square and in the city's adjacent central street throughout the day, listening to recorded rock music and speeches in an atmosphere that mixes a sense of festivity with high political tension.

The Central Election Commission announced that with 99.14% of voting districts counted, Yanukovich led with 49.4% to Yushchenko's 46.7%.

But Richard Lugar, the Republican head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who was monitoring the election as a personal envoy of President Bush, charged at a news conference today that the results had been rigged.

"It is now apparent that a concerted and forceful program of election day fraud and abuse was enacted with either the leadership or cooperation of governmental authorities," Lugar said.

"I believe that President Kuchma has the responsibility and the opportunity for producing even at this point an outcome which is fair and responsible," Lugar added. "He will enhance his legacy by prompt and decisive action which maximizes worldwide confidence in the presidency of Ukraine and the extraordinary potential future which lies ahead of this country."

Yushchenko had claimed victory in the pre-dawn hours today based on an exit poll financed in part by the U.S. Embassy and other Western diplomatic missions that showed him winning 54% to 43%.

He also charged that authorities had begun a "coup d'etat" by falsifying the vote count. Speaking at the square later today, he charged that official turnout had exceeded the number of registered voters in some districts of eastern Ukraine, where Yanukovich is particularly popular.

A foreign observers mission, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, also criticized the balloting for failing to meet international democratic standards.