Everyone has probably heard of the peaceful protest in defence of the TVi TV Channel. The fact that the event should be of apolitical nature was announced both by national and regional media. At the same time, in Chernihiv political bias weren't avoided.
On 8 April, public figures, representatives of political parties, journalists, and volunteers came to the central square of the city in defence of TVi. The organisers of the event set up the Wall of Truth where any volunteer could put a signature to support the TV channel as well as organised the speeches of Chernihiv citizens involved. Videos on this topic were shown on the screen, and live broadcast from Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv closed the event. It is worthy of note that the event managed to bring out many public and political figures well-known in Chernihiv.
However, next to the posters demonstrating support of the independent channel, a group of young people unfurled several posters saying "Atroshenko return TVi" and "Yanukovych + Atroshenko — one gang" concerning the person of Vladyslav Atroshenko. Such mention of the candidate for People's Deputy in the district 206 is tied to the fact that in certain quarters mister Atroshenko is associated with Osnova-TV Ltd., which restricted the broadcast of the TVi Channel in the cable network in Chernihiv. The candidate's headquarters states that at the moment he has no legal relations to the given company. Serhiy Maliavko — Director of Osnova-TV Ltd. — shared his own point of view on the fact of disabling.
Furthermore, a poster was demonstrated at the event showing the following — "This unites them. PRestuplenie (crime), PRovokatsiya (provocation), PRedatelstvo (betrayal), PRodazhnost (corruption), Proklatie (curse), PRokopenko... and PR". Stanislav Prokopenko, the candidate of the Party of Regions, who uses the same composition style in his campaign, is also running for the election district 206.
No political entity has officially taken responsibility for such informational materials. Volodymyr Polishchuk — the candidate for People's Deputy of the political party All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland in the E.D. No.206 — who personally attended the event stated that though in fact he supports the statements on posters he doesn't know who could be the organiser of this event.
Therefore, OPORA Network believes the very mention of the candidates with the elements of slander and discrediting them gives the context of the event political overtone. This is not the first time in Chernihiv when candidates are trying to exploit public protests and projects masking their social value.
The organiser of the event Ihor Andriichenko also shared his opinion on this subject, 'The event in defence of TVi has gained strong support of Chernihiv citizens. Though the event was purely social unfortunately it didn't do without campaign slogans. A few dozens of students held posters against one of the majoritarian candidates, and I find it very doubtful they made them on their own initiative. It is unfortunate that some dishonourable politicians are using public protests for own political benefits. I am certain that when holding the next public protest we will do our best to prevent occurrence of such incidents!’
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 is carrying out a large-scale campaign of long- and short term observation, organizing 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.