[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 136 (Wednesday, November 24, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ELECTION IN UKRAINE

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                           HON. JO ANN DAVIS

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 24, 2004

  Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, 2 months ago, this House 
overwhelmingly passed H. Con. Res. 415 regarding the October 31 
Presidential elections about to be held in the Ukraine.
  During the floor debate on that resolution, I noted that the 
development of a strong democracy in the Ukraine has been slow and 
difficult over the past 13 years. In recognizing this fact, I stated 
that no issue would be more important to the Ukraine's future standing 
with the West than the test its democracy was about to face in that 
Presidential election. I said that in many ways the election 
represented a historic opportunity for the people of the Ukraine to 
decide whether or not democracy can flourish in this important nation.
  Those elections did take place on October 31. Since no candidate 
received over 50 percent of the votes, a runoff election was just held 
this past Sunday. Regrettably, and despite every effort we were told 
would be made by the Government for a free and fair election, the 
rhetoric was not matched by the actions and the elections seemed to 
have been seriously flawed.
  A preliminary assessment of the elections conducted by the 
International Election Observation Mission (IEOM), consisting of 
representatives from the OSCE, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the 
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European 
Parliament and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, indicated that the 
second round of the presidential election did not meet a considerable 
number of internationally accepted standards for democratic elections. 
The IEOM report listed election day violence, intimidation of voters 
and observers, suspiciously high voter turnout in some regions, 
problems with ballot counting and the addition of several hundred 
thousand absentee ballots.
  In a statement issued by Senator Richard Lugar who was observing the 
elections as the representative of President Bush, the Senator reported 
that it was apparent that a concerted and forceful program of election 
day fraud and abuse was enacted with either the leadership or 
cooperation of government authorities.
  Mr. Speaker, this is disappointing and unacceptable news from the 
Ukraine. It seems incomprehensible to me that with the rocky 
relationship the West has had at times with the outgoing leadership in 
Kiev that the new President of the Ukraine would want to spend the next 
5 years under a cloud of legitimacy as a result of an unfair electoral 
process.
  Mr. Speaker, we in the Congress have long supported building a 
stable, democratic, and prosperous nation in the Ukraine and have tried 
to work with those individuals and organizations who shared our goals. 
Unfortunately, and regrettably, the conduct of these recent elections 
suggests that many in Ukraine's current government have not yet 
committed themselves to this goal and lack the political will to do so.
  As chairwoman of the Europe Subcommittee I believe I can speak for 
the House in expressing our deep disappointment with the conduct of 
these recent elections and our concerns for the Ukraine's future. We 
join with the Bush administration in calling on the current President 
of the Ukraine, the Rada and the Supreme Court to conduct a thorough 
review of these elections and investigate the charges of mass fraud 
before any certification of the results is made. At the very least, it 
may be necessary to hold new elections in those cities or regions where 
the fraud was most blatant. We also call on all sides of the dispute to 
exercise restraint and avoid violence. Finally, if the dispute is not 
resolved in support of the democratic process, then I believe the Bush 
administration must begin a review of our relations with the Ukraine 
and take what ever actions may be necessary to express our displeasure 
with the actions of the Ukraine government and its leaders.

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