Lubomir Kopaj, project coordinator of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s 54-employee, 2.7 million euro program in Ukraine, said that an Interfax-Ukraine news agency report dated March 22 is false and misleading regarding his position on the withdrawal of the National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute from a working group on the drafting of new Ukrainian election laws.
Affiliated with America’s top two political parties, both pro-democracy nongovernmental organizations told the Kyiv Post in recent days that they pulled out of the process, alleging that the election law reform working group was not operating in a manner that was open and fair for opposition parties and other interested parties.
The working group has been headed by Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych. He and his ministry have denied claims of NDI and IRI, the only two foreign organizations that were formal members of the working.
In an apparent bid to shore up support and legitimacy for his working group, Lavrynovych met on March 22 with Kopaj, who represents the OSCE, which has an observer role within the working group.
Soon after the meeting, Interfax-Ukraine published a news report citing Kopaj as upholding the working group’s transparency. The justice ministry’s press service followed up with a press release that cited Kopaj in similar fashion.
Speaking with the Kyiv Post late on March 23, Kopaj denied speaking with journalists or challenging the decision of NDI and IRI to quit the working group during discussions with Lavrynovych.
“This is a game of the press service of the Justice Ministry,” Kopaj said. “They say I did not support the withdrawal of NDI and IRI. I did not comment on the issue because I don’t have the rights to comment.”
“The source is not Interfax, but the press service of Ministry of Justice,” which manages the election law reform working group, Kopaj said. “I did not speak to any journalists. The press release [issued by the Justice Ministry] after my meeting with Lavrynovych was not consulted with me. We asked for a correction. They refused.”
Kopaj said that while meeting with Lavrynovych on March 22, he only offered support to the election working group in holding discussions as long as the process complies with European Union transparency requirements. Moreover, any OSCE involvement would require approval of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kopaj noted.
Kopaj said he thinks that Lavrynovych is under pressure because of public criticism over the withdrawal in recent days of the U.S.-based NDI and IRI from the ministry’s working group.
Experts in Ukraine, including the Telekritika media watchdog, say that the Interfax-Ukraine news agency tends to report on Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration with a positive spin.
The decision by NDIand IRI to suspend participation in the working group could deepen criticism that Yanukovych, since taking power more than a year ago, is reversing democratic progress.
Yanukovych’s democratic credentials, never strong, suffered after October’s elections were criticized as not meeting democratic standards. The Yanukovych administration is also criticized for favoring postponement of parliamentary elections to 2012, instead of 2011.
The working group on improving the election legislation under the president was established in November last year at Yanukovych’s initiative. Its objective was to improve electoral legislation in accordance with generally accepted international democratic standards. Recent announcements by NDI and IRI, however, indicate that the process has been far from fair and open.
However, Kopaj said that two experts from OSCE’s Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights continue to participate in the Ukrainian working group as international experts, not as members.
He says that he has no indication that the ODIHR experts will end participation and said that “to be honest, the Ukrainians took on board some of those suggestions” that the ODIHR experts made.
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