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Ivano Frankivska oblast. I admired his tenacity.) I went home that night thoroughly dejected by what I had witnessed. I sincerely believed that Ukraine had made progress in the establishment of democracy and rule of law. I heard expressions of support for it from the highest level of the government as well as from average citizens. Yet, in that courtroom I felt as if I had stepped back in time and straight into a Soviet sham trial. Election day itself - a brisk but sunny day - was a marathon of visiting polling stations, responding to calls regarding violations of voting, and directing the work of the 100 or so short-term observers who had fanned out across Kyiv. What we saw then and during the entire month demonstrated that while Ukraine had made great strides in implementing some aspects of democratic voting, much work remains to be done before the country can claim that its elections are being held in accordance with accepted international standards and obligations. The good news was that voter turnout was high - the average was 65%. New election legislation made the process more democratic, open and transparent. A multitude of parties and more than 7000 candidates gave voters a wide range of choice. Civil society was much involved in the process. The bad news was that the mass media was, for the most part, biased in its coverage of the campaign, giving preference to certain parties and candidates while wholly ignoring others. The use of so-called “administrative resources” was prevalent: representatives of the party in power, who held positions in the government, were very often alleged to have pressured or intimidated civil servants to vote a certain way or to have used government printing presses to print up campaign literature, etc. There were many instances in which governmental bodies illegally tried to influence the voting process. And finally, there were incidents of violence. A leading opposition candidate was murdered and there were allegations of physical and psychological intimidation of opposition candidates, activists and voters. Al though not widespread, these events cast a shadow over an otherwise very peaceful and orderly election process. At the end of election night I was exhausted. It was a bone-deep, cumulative mental, physical and emotional exhaustion. I trudged up the stairs to our little office around midnight, after an 18-hour day, hoping for a few quiet minutes and a cup of strong coffee. I never made it there. In the lobby of the building I was approached by a man who identified himself as Yevhen, an ordinary citizen of Kyiv, who had voted in his precinct and wanted to tell me all about the problems he saw there. He had somehow tracked us down and was now addressing me, as if he knew me. “Pani Marto," he began, "you have no idea what was happening at my polling station”. He described in minute detail the lack of booths so that people could vote in secrecy, the long lines, the inaccurate voters’ lists with names of so-called “dead souls”, and the general chaos in his polling district. I let him go on at length, too tired even to try to stem his growing list of grievances. The longer he spoke the more passionate he became about the need for assistance to correct these mistakes, to improve the system, to bring about true democracy. He ended his plea with words that suddenly made me alert, “You are our last hope.” Here was the heart of the problem, I thought. This is exactly what needs to change before further progress is achieved. As gently as I could I told him, "No, Pane Yevhen. We, the OSCE, are not your last hope. It is you are your own last hope. You and people who think like you.” Until the psychology of people in Ukraine changes, until they realize that they must seize control of their own fate, until they fully understand that each citizen who holds a ballot paper in his hand also holds the key to the future of his or her country, no amount of new and progressive legislation, no amount of technical assistance from the West, and no oversight by the OSCE or the UN or the European Union will lead to real and lasting changes. There are hopeful signs that this is happening. The Ukrainian people gave Victor Yushchenko’s “Our Ukraine” party 23% of the vote, putting it ahead of the Communist Party and way ahead of the ruling pro- Presidential party, which received only 11%. This occurred despite the fact that the media did not highlight the democratic reformist ex-prime minister’s pre-election campaign. The strategy of dumping an avalanche of political advertising, campaign literature on the public, of attempting to strong arm the popu lation into voting a certain way, which was adopted by other parties, seemed to have had a boomerang effect. Most people also did not fall for the lure of the smaller parties, many of which had dubious motives and even more dubious sources of financing. These parties barely registered in the general vote tabulation. I returned home from Ukraine with mixed feelings. It had been a thrilling and intense experience. It was a difficult thirty days, but already I have begun thinking of the presidential elections in Ukraine two years from now. Perhaps they will need long-term observers again... In the meantime, does anyone know of a nice Caribbean island with a spa?
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