On the eve of the official start of the election campaign, the activists of the Civil Network OPORA had a conversation with Maksym Korniienko, the Head of the Public reception room of the People's Deputy of Ukraine Petro Andriiovych Yushchenko and the legal consultant of Kharkiv oblast organization of Our Ukraine party.
During the conversation the following issues were raised: the peculiarities and threats of the election campaign 2012; disputing questions, which are going to emerge during the election process; organization related plans of Our Ukraine party, and attitude of the party to the language bill.
OPORA's reference:
Maksym Yuriiovych Korniienko
Since 2010 is the Head of legal department of Kharkiv city organization Alliance Kvirita.
Since 2011 provides legal assistance within cooperation framework with Kharkiv oblast organization of the Our Ukraine party.
Is engaged in private legal practice, cooperates with different law firms and nongovernmental organizations
Good afternoon, Maksym. I think we should start directly with a vital question. According to your point of view, what will be the difference between the previous and current elections (in terms of activities of your party and activities of other political actors)?
Ukrainian and foreign political scientists acknowledged that Kharkiv has always been the center of Ukraine, where a lot of things are decided. It is not accidentally that since 2010 there is a proverb: "The party that won in Kharkiv will win in Ukraine."
At the moment the situation in Kharkiv is very complicated: the administrative resource puts pressure both on the members of opposition and on the entrepreneurs.
In fact, today Kharkiv does not even have mass media, which would publish all our information. Most of the TV channels are either closed or controlled by the local authorities, for example, 7th Channel (7 Kanal) in Kharkiv. The problems emerged with the TV channel Simon, which provided relatively independent information. Although in 2010 the Head of the channel Oleksandr Davtian personally stated that Hennadii Kernes (ed. - the current Kharkiv city Mayor) is the best Mayor. Such statements clearly show the absence of a real opposition in Kharkiv.
In Kharkiv there is no difference between the Party of Regions and the United opposition. When Mr Davtian, who represents the opposition, claims that the government is good, it becomes unclear which kind of opposition he represents.
For a party like Fatherland everything is based on finances. There is no ideology. They just pretend that they are active, but in fact there is no activity at all. That is why the Party of Regions won in Kharkiv in 2010, because the Fatherland did not do anything.
At the moment the slogans for defense are widely used. However I do not understand what do they mean by defense. It would be one thing if they did something and made it public, but if nothing is done it is totally different.
The evaluation made by Arsen Avakov (ed. - the Head of Kharkiv oblast organization of the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda party) predicts that in Kharkiv region only 3-4 majoritarian candidates from the United opposition will get to Verkhovna Rada. However, I think this prediction will not come true.
I think that this election process will be dirty. They will continue to play with different technologies.
A technology, which was first used by the Fatherland and consequently incorporated by the United opposition, is the situation with political prisoners: Ms Tymoshenko, Mr Lutsenko, Mr Ivashchenko and others. By using this, the opposition wants to get to the Parliament.
The promises "We will make your life better" appear again. Sorry, you are already the people's deputies, why don't you do that today?
Populism became the main feature of the government during the last year.
The language bill is populism. It is presented as the defense of Russian language. In fact, if to read the law, it does not defend it but complicates the relationships between the citizens.
The language bill is populism. It does not defend Russian language.
New players, such as Nataliia Korolevska, appeared on the political arena. The party of Vitalii Klychko becomes more powerful. Although a number of parties are already dead, namely, the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine and others.
In this very situation, when the people do not want to vote neither for opposition nor for government, Ukraine-Ahead! and UDAR can get to Verkhovna Rada. Part of the votes will be won by Our Ukraine. I think that in Kharkiv Our Ukraine party will get 5-7% but not more than 7%.
In case of the Communist Party of Ukraine it is different. For the first time during the last 10 years it started to do something. However, this activity was not motivated by their desire to do something. The communists are just afraid that they will not get to the parliament (and sociologists already talk about this). That is why we see the TV advertisement - the youth in the Communist Party of Ukraine.
I am sure that the black PR will be used and the attacks on the agitators will continue. As it is already known, the attempts to dismantle the tents of Our Ukraine in Kharkiv by using force did not receive any attention from the police.
Not so long ago the court trials took place regarding the attempts undertaken by the representatives of the city administration and Zhytlokomservis in Komintern rayon to confiscate the tents of the Ukraine-Ahead! party.
Such events tell us that in Kharkiv they try to show that there is only one party - the Party of Regions. There are no other parties.
Everything can happen at the election commissions. In 2010 they run in all possible technologies. There will be situation when the numbers will not match, when they will try to dismiss the candidate though the Central Election Commission by all means. I do not exclude the possibility that right before the elections the additional explanations from the Central Election Commission will emerge and they will not be beneficial for the political parties, which want to win these elections honestly.
The number of rallies and protest actions will increase. Are there going to be a lot of people at these actions? - No. People are afraid. They are so afraid that it easier for them to keep silence or to talk about the events "in the kitchen". However, there will be some who will go on the street.
At the moment the government tries to fix the road and say that it was done with the support of one of the people's deputies. It's ridiculous. No one will say that the roads are fixed for the money from the city budget. No deputy is investing his own money to repair at least one pothole. At the same time, I drive along Olimpiiska Street and read: "The road works are conducted with the support of the People's Deputy Iryna Horina (ed. - a potential majoritarian candidate in voting district #171, Kharkiv)." It surprises me. She financed that or what? No, it's an ad. And the election campaign has not even started yet. We turn on 7th Kanal channel and see the people's deputies saying "We will win." And now it is impudence. The same kind of agitation we see from the United opposition - the rotated video clips with Tymoshenko, Lutsenko, Hrytsenko.
The only advantage of the campaign is that at least they will feed the people. Because during the last two years people became so poor, that the pension of 1000 UAH cannot be compared with the same amount in 2009-2010.
Maksym, we have already talked about the peculiarities of the Parliamentary elections 2012. What kind of threats for the subjects of the election process you would underline?
For the media I see two scenarios. They will either support the government or become closed. Such TV channel as TVi will disappear from the TV network and will move to the Internet. The same may happen with Kharkiv TV channel Simon. Taking into account the fact that they already support the government, all other channels will work and will continue saying that the life is so good in Ukraine. The pressure will remain. However, in most cases we will deal with self-censorship in media. After hearing the words "local authorities" or "authorities", they will think whether to publish the material or no.
The voters will live even worse. Every day the level of trust to the government will become lower, both to the Parliament and to the President. At the moment this level is already quite low. The level of trust to the Party of Regions, as to the subject of power, will also decrease.
They will close the nongovernmental organizations and put pressure on them. At the moment it is dangerous to close the NGOs inUkraine, especially those which are popular inUkraineand abroad.
I do not exclude the possibility that theRussian Federationmay start defending the opposition. The rating of Viktor Fedorovych will decrease both in Europe and inRussia.
I think that the big players will leave the Party of Regions, namely Mr Pinchuk, Mr Akhmetov, and a number of other people as well, because the levels of trust to them also decrease. That is why they start financing other political parties in order to remain in power.
The big players will leave the Party of Regions, namely, Mr Pinchuk, Mr Akhmetov, and a number of other people as well, because the levels of trust to them also decrease.
The court system will also change for worse. If the cases will be connected somehow with the government, the people will not be able to find protection.
The situation with peaceful gatherings will follow the same scenario; the number of prohibitions will increase. The police will use force more frequently.
I am afraid that after the term of Viktor Fedorovych comes to an end,Ukrainewill be compared toBelarus. Although in terms of human rights it was already made by Angela Merkel.
During the elections in 2010, the candidates from Kharkiv organization of Our Ukraine did not take part in the elections to Kharkiv city council. How will the party catch up with the electoral period in the city? And what organization plans do you have?
First of all, Our Ukraine will go to the people. We will talk to them about their problems, roofs, high utility tariffs, about the things that worry them. We will work with people.
We know for sure what we will not do - we will not promise them the moon. We will honestly tell them that the solution of their problem is first of all their task. We did not come to solve your problems on our own. We will solve them together.
Because quite often the politicians come and say: "we will solve everything for you." And the people hope for that.
We will publish a newspaper, where the problems of people will be stated. It will also include a special section - "questions to the lawyer."
Our volunteers and party members will organize meetings, where we will show how to fight together.
The party’s report for the last 5 years will be the first thing every person gets. It will tell what is and will be done.
Also, at the moment on Facebook we create our election program. The page contains such sections as NATO, housing offices, corruption, justice, where everyone can write his suggestion. Later the voting will be held. And the suggestions, which get the biggest amount of votes, will become a part of election program.
On Facebook we create our election program, where everyone can write his suggestion.
Our party did not take part in primaries. And although we could, we did not do that not because we wanted to make something undemocratically but because we will nominate the people who have already shown themselves in their activity.
It is interesting, what kind of questions will be put for discussion by Our Ukraine during this election period? How do you think, what questions will be highlighted by your opponents in the election races?
We will raise all kind of questions. And the opponents will raise the issues of social sphere. I will not be surprised if additional privileges and laws emerge.
There will also be a game with NATO, “american” and “russian” questions.
It will not be a surprise if in October the teacher-parent meetings are suddenly held in all schools.In the same unexpected way the people's deputies will appear during these meetings. As a result, there will be not enough class rooms for the deputies' reception rooms and walls to hang their photos.
Today the hottest topic in Kharkiv is the language bill. Can you announce the position of Our Ukraine in this situation?
This bill is discriminatory and unconstitutional. It has nothing in common with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. And this is the reason why Our Ukraine is against it. At the moment we demand that the President vetoes this bill.
If it will be finally signed, then our nongovernmental organization will file a petition with a demand to recognize the actions of the people's deputies during the voting process as illegal. Also a lawsuit will be initiated against the Deputy Head of Verkhovna Rada Mr Martyniuk, who has committed a gross breach of the rules of proceedings of Verkhovna Rada.
In conclusion, it would be interesting to hear about the plans of Our Ukraine for the near future and to hear about your wishes regarding the election campaign.
In the near future we will have the conferences of the centers of the Our Ukraine party, the congress and afterwards the routine work: meetings with citizens, media and the Party of Regions at Territorial and Local Election Commissions. We understand that they will constitute the majority there. Unfortunately.
I hope that the social activists will not shut their eyes to this and will act.
I have only one wish - do not cross the line of human morality and values.
I wish the citizens to take everything from everyone, but vote as their hearts and souls tell them.
I wish the media to remain the journalists and not to be tied to the chariot of the parties.
Personally, I wish my fears of the dirty election process will not come true.
The interview with Maksym Korniienko, the Head of the Public reception room of the People's Deputy of Ukraine Petro Andriiovych Yushchenko and the legal consultant of Kharkiv oblast organization of the Our Ukraine party was made by Olena Ukrainets, the Observer of the Project “Monitoring of elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine2012” in Kharkiv oblast.
Reference:
Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA - is a type of network activity, aimed at impartial assessment of the preparation and conduct of elections, as well as preventing violations through comprehensive civic action. Professional monitoring at all stages of the election process indirectly influences the quality of the campaign. The public opinion, both foreign and domestic is formed through gathering and spreading of information among the target audience. From a strategic perspective public monitoring of elections focuses upon improving the system and certain procedures. In 2012, during Parliamentary elections in Ukraine OPORA implements a large-scale campaign of long- and short term observation, organizes a statistical vote-count by the results of voting with the proportional component of the electoral system on a basis of representative selection, will provide 100% coverage of polling stations by observers in separate single-mandate majoritarian districts. OPORA observers will work in all 225 electoral districts, and 3,500 activists will join them on the voting day. Organization will use the latest means of spreading information on observation results, including infographics and interactive maps.