Election Commission head Ryabets asks for self-imposed gag order and allow voters to judge candidates themselves
to ensure transparent parliamentary elections. The money will be spent on training seminars and to produce brochures.
U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual, who attended the signing of the USAID agreement on Dec. 20, was quoted by Interfax-Ukraine as saying that he was pleased with Ukraine’s attempts to hold transparent elections.
Meanwhile, Central Electoral Commission head Mykhailo Ryabets asked journalists Dec. 25 to refrain from writing about parliamentary candidates until the campaign’s kickoff on Feb. 9.
Ryabets said he wanted the media to observe a self-imposed gag rule on political reporting until the parliamentary campaign officially begins.
“Voters can judge parliamentary candidates themselves,” UNIAN news agency quoted Ryabets as saying.
Whether Ryabets actually intended to silence reporters or was merely advising reporters to use restraint is unclear. However, reporters have continued to freely write about political candidates, parties and blocs.
The elections law provides that the media may “objectively cover the process of preparations for and the conduct of elections.” Nothing in the election law prohibits analysis of parties or candidates.
“The courts would throw out a suit against a journalist [for writing about the elections], because freedom of speech and the press is guaranteed by Ukraine’s Constitution,” deputy and former Justice Minister Vasyl Onopenko told Germany’s Deutsche Welle on Dec. 25.
During the 1999 presidential elections, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the state had exerted pressure on the media.
The Ukrainian Committee of Voters said it would be watching the 2002 elections closely. Chief among the committee’s concerns are that governors and mayors allow all parties equal participation and that courts settle disputes fairly.
