The Kivalov Diploma “will be seen as spitting in the face of half of Ukraine”
November 18, 2007 – 11:33 pmIs it time for Viktor Yushchenko to resign in disgrace?
Ukrayinska Pravda http://pravda.com.ua/news/2007/11/15/66906.htm published the Honorary Diploma that Serhiy Kivalov, the disgraced Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) in the 1st and 2nd rounds of the 2004 elections, was awarded by the Central Election Commission. Kivalov also obtained a medal.
In typical George Orwellian language, the Honorary Diploma is given to Kivalov in recognition: “For his great individual contribution to ensuring the realisation of the
constitutional rights of Ukrainian citizens and on the occasion of the tenth
anniversary of the formation of the Central Election Commission”.
The head of the CEC is Viktor Shapoval, a loyal member of Yushcheko’s team.
Kivalov was only once the Chairman of the CEC in the 2004 presidential
elections. He was removed by parliament on 8 December as part of a compromise vote. On 3 December 2004 the Supreme Court had annulled the official second round results and called for a repeat run
of the second round within three weeks.
Kivalov was elected to parliament in
2006 and 2007 within the Party of Regions which includes a large number of unrepentant Kuchma era officials who, if Ukraine had the rule of law and the President fulfilled his commitments to the Orange Revolution, they would be today behind bars.
So there we have it. In February the disgraced former Prosecutor Mykhailo Potebenko was given a state medal for his alleged “contribution to improving the rule of law” in Ukraine. The year before oligarch Renat Akhmetov was given a state medal and other oligarchs have also been given such awards since then.
One American colleague who works on Ukraine wrote to me after learning of Kivalov’s award and said:
“And this suggests to this reader at least that Ukrainian officials are not serious about becoming a modern state. This kind of nonsense goes beyond corruption — it suggests that the only thing that really counts for the Ukrainian political elite is personal connections and cronyism. That applies to virtually everybody in the political elite or these shenanigans would not be happening”.
He continued, “In the meantime, it is incumbent up the West to speak out, regardless of whom the intended audience is and will be. To play down this absurdity is to fall victim to the worst kind of associational guilt possible”.
In Ukrayinska Pravda’s eyes the granting of this award to Kivalov “will be seen as spitting in the face of half of Ukraine”. The granting of a diploma and medal to Kivalov insults the one in five Ukrainians who participated in the Orange Revolution.
Yushchenko will not be the president who will bring the rule of law to Ukraine: that is clearly seen by his awards to Potebenko and Kivalov. Kivalov was not only never prosecuted but he was permitted to continue as Dean of the Odesa Judicial Academy where he unveiled a monument to himself in 2005.
This and earlier awards, as well as Yushchenko’s unwillingness to enter a coalition a coalition with Yulia Tymoshenko (even though he called for a “democratic coalition” in the campaign) signals one conclusion: Yushchenko will never win the 2009 elections. Perhaps then it is time for Yushchenko to resign from office rather