The excuse is not good enough. It appears that – once again – the opposition got outhustled and outplayed in the elections. They will have to do better.
We believe they have to unite and start thinking harder about their nominees. We believe they have to have better strategies for countering dirty election tricks.
We believe they have to dedicate designated teams to manage the elections in a very hands-on style, and in coordination with civil society and international observers. We believe they need to design prevention mechanisms for most common types of fraud, such as vote-buying.
If vote-buying can’t be stopped, the opposition should join the vote observers’ campaign teaching the voters to trick the tricksters. Better still is to design a massive and effective education campaign against vote-buying.
The opposition can cry for early presidential and parliamentary elections all they want. Even if they win this demand, their pitiful performance in the by-elections shows that President Viktor Yanukovych and the rulig Party of Regions may prevail in a new vote. If the opposition wants to govern, it will first have to show that it can lead – and rally a nation behind it.
Moreover, this set of skills and strategies will be needed more than ever in the 2015 presidential election. Too much is at stake for the opposition to fail to perform.
