Ukraine After Euromaidan: Democracy Under Fire
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Alexander Bedritskiy Alexey Kochetkov Stanislav Byshok UKRAINE AFTER EUROMAIDAN Democracy under fire 2015 Alexander Bedritskiy, Alexey Kochetkov, Stanislav Byshok UKRAINE AFTER EUROMAIDAN. Democracy under fi re. Recent events of Ukrainian revolu on of 2013-2014 brought not only changes of poli cal landscape in Ukraine but also transforma- on of the country’s map; Thus the Crimea region returned to Russian Federa on and on the East of the country two independent repub- lics formed: Donetskaya (DPR) and Luhanskaya (LPR) people republics, which historically had been part of Novorossiya. On November 2nd 2014 local and state elec ons were conducted in DPR and LPR to select head of state and local depu es. The environ- ment during elec ons was highly complicated by shelling, humanitar- ian crisis, shortage of qualifi ed personnel. Despite all of those facts, elec ons were ini ally designed to be democra c, transparent, with respect to legal rights of people. Thus elec ons were conducted demo- cra cally to the extend possible in military situa on. There was heightened a en on to elec on campaigns in DPR and DPR by not just local and Russian Media, but also by Foreign Media. On elec on day in DPR alone there were 320 accredited journalists including those from Europe and USA. There were weekly news press- conferences conducted by local depu es for Media, briefi ngs for all par cipants and candidates in elec on process, and road trips of can- didates to regions. Percent of elec on par cipa on was maximum possible in a war situa on. In both DPR and LPR there were queues of thousands of voters to elec on centers. A er elec on fi nished there were more then a million of people who voted in DPR and more then 700 thousands who voted in LPR. © Alexander Bedritskiy, Alexey Kochetkov, Stanislav Byshok, 2015 CONTENTS Ukrainian Ochlocracy VS Direct Democracy ......................... • The Crimea Referendum – Democracy Against Ochlocracy........................................................ • The Donbass Referendum – Society Against Insurgency .............................................................. Chapter 1. Crimes Commi ed by Par cipants in An -Terrorist Opera ons against the Popula ons of the DPR and LPR ....................... • The Shelling of Ci es ........................................................................ • Mass Graves of ATO Vic ms............................................................. Chapter 2. The Minsk Protocol: Illusions of Hope ................................................... • Prepara on and Ini ators of Nego a ons ...................................... - The First Session of the Trilateral Contact Group ....................... - Poroshenko’s Inaugura on Speech ............................................ - Poroshenko’s Plan ...................................................................... - The Start of Nego a ons: Kiev – Moscow – The Rebels ..................................................... - Appealing to Lukashenko ........................................................... - The Trilateral Contact Group Session in Minsk, July 31 .............. - Pu n and Poroshenko Meet in Minsk ........................................ - Phone Talks between Pu n and Poroshenko ............................. - 3 - • Working Groups and the Texts of the Agreements .......................... - Contact Group Nego a ons on September 1 ............................ - Contact Group Nego a ons on September 5 ............................ - The Text of the Minsk Protocol ................................................... - Memorandum of September 19 ................................................. • Reac on to the Minsk Agreement ................................................... - The Joint Statement of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic ............................................ - The UN Secretary General Welcomes the Ceasefi re in Ukraine ............................................................. - Barack Obama Expresses Skep cism .......................................... - Vladimir Pu n Welcomes the Peace Agreement ........................ - The Council of Europe and NATO welcome the Ceasefi re .......... - Lyashko Accuses Poroshenko of Capitula on ............................. Chapter 3. The Electoral Campaign for the Supreme Rada of Ukraine .......................................................... • Elec on Procedure........................................................................... • Irregulari es during the Electoral Campaign ................................... - A acks on Candidates ................................................................ - The Use of Administra ve Resource .......................................... - Bribing Voters ............................................................................. - Access to the Media ................................................................... - Spoiler Candidates ...................................................................... • Summary of Elec on Results ........................................................... - 4 - Chapter 4. Results of the Ukrainian Elec on for Novorossiya ................................. • The Rada of the Winners ................................................................. - Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc ............................................................. - The Fatherland (Batkivshchyna) All-Ukrainian Union .................................................................... - The People’s Front ...................................................................... - The Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko .............................................. - Self-Reliance ............................................................................... Chapter 5. The Electoral Campaign in the DPR and LPR .......................................... • Appoin ng the Elec on Day ............................................................ • The Unifi ca on of Novorossiya and Free Donbass .......................... • Zakharchenko Receives a Candidate’s ID for the Elec on of the Head of the DPR.......................................... • First Campaign Billboards in Donetsk .............................................. • Yuri Sivokonenko Submits his Signature Lists to the CEC ........................................................................................ • The Luhansk Economic Union Submits its Signature Lists to the CEC .............................................. • Krasilnikov Withdraws His Candidacy .............................................. • Campaign Cars in Donetsk ............................................................... • Gathering Signatures for Free Donbass ........................................... • Offi cial Press in the DPR ................................................................... • Three Run for Head of the DPR ........................................................ • Plotnitsky Collects Signatures .......................................................... • Candidates for Head of the LPR ....................................................... • DPR CEC Website ............................................................................. - 5 - • Final List of Candidates for the Elec on in the LPR .......................... • Joint Statement by Plotnitsky, Mozgovoy and Kozitsyn ................................................................... • Printed Campaign materials in the DPR ........................................... • Plotnitsky’s Public Offi ce .................................................................. • The Electoral Process is Underway as Planned – Purgin ......................................................................... • Plotnitsky Visits Kindergartens ........................................................ • A Mee ng with Cultural Professionals of the LPR ........................... • The Electoral Manifesto of the Luhansk Economic Union ............... • A Round Table of the Donbass Civil Ini a ve the Donbass .............. • Zakharchenko’s Visit to Khartsyzk .................................................... • The Manifesto of the Mir Luganshchine Movement ....................... • An Opinion Poll in Luhansk .............................................................. • A Press Conference of the CEC of the DPR ...................................... • A Mee ng between Lyagin and the Chairmen of Territorial Electoral Commissions .................. • Plotnitsky visits Lutugino ................................................................. • Na onal Unity Day in the Donbass .................................................. • “The Party of War” Has Won in Ukraine – Zakharchenko................ • The “I Have Made My Choice!” Campaign....................................... • Plotnitsky Doubts the Legi macy of the Elec on in Ukraine ........................................................................................ • Iosif Kobzon in Donetsk ................................................................... • The Elec ons Will Contribute to the Legi ma on of the Authori es – Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Aff airs .............................................................................. • Campaign Videos in Donetsk ........................................................... • Iosif Kobzon in Luhansk.................................................................... • The First Day of Early Vo ng in the LPR ........................................... - 6 - • The LPR Ministry of Internal Aff airs