Campaigning is no longer allowed in Ukraine with voters preparing to go to the polls on Sunday. However, both presidential candidates have done their utmost to etch their image into the minds of voters.
Yet that is where the similarities ended. There was a completely different mood at the aforementioned mass rallies. Timoshenko’s stage played host to a solemn prayer, while Yanukovich’s gathering boasted a glittering concert.
The mood may suggest what is inside the candidates’ heads, but in the unpredictable world of Ukrainian politics, it is too early to uncork the champagne just yet.
The second part of Ukraine’s election campaign kicked off with a bang, quite literally. Just a week after the first round, a group of unidentified men attacked the factory that prints the election ballots – and what at first seemed to be a purely commercial dispute gained political capital.
Deputies from Yanukovich’s Party of Regions attempted to protect the facility from Yulia Timoshenko’s plans to install a new manager – a move they believed was aimed at falsifying the election.
“Timoshenko’s policy is aimed at destabilization of the situation, at election fraud, at election disruption. The raid is confirmation of this fact. These events were triggered the day after the election when Timoshenko gave the instructions,” says Nikolay Azarov, a Ukrainian Deputy from the Party of Regions.
As a result of the failed takeover, the Party of Regions initiated the sacking of their long-time foe, Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko.
Even though he was reinstated by Prime Minister Timoshenko in a rather bizarre manner, analysts noted that this has put the blue and white camp ahead in a tight race in the eyes of the electorate.
The biggest success, however, for presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich’s faction happened when they pushed through amendments to the country’s electoral law – just several days before the run-off.
The Timoshenko Bloc was, as expected, furious at the development.
“The amendment is jeopardizing the presidential election, making voting unfair and uncontrollable. Yanukovich took these steps because he doesn’t believe in victory and now he hopes to win by falsifying the results,” Yulia Timoshenko said.
The three weeks between the rounds have been seen as far more turbulent than the initial campaign. With polling stations to re-open on Sunday morning, the race is still very tight.
Mateusz Piskorski from the CIS election monitoring organization says that, although there have been only minor irregularities during the first round of elections, his organization has still faced obstacles.
“Ninety-two members of our mission, who were coming by bus from the Russian Federation, were stopped at the Ukrainian border and kept there for several hours for no reason,” Piskorski said. He sees this as an attempt to hamper and discredit the work of the organizations monitoring the electoral process.
RT
