RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 162, 99-08-20

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 162, 20 August 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS TO HOLD FURTHER

[02] AZERBAIJANI JOURNALIST MURDERED

[03] ABKHAZ PRESIDENT TO RUN FOR SECOND TERM

[04] A GEORGIAN POLICEMAN'S LOT IS NOT A HAPPY ONE

[05] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRO-PRESIDENTIAL PARTY CONFIDENT

[06] ...WHILE OPPOSITION PARTY THREATEN TO BOYCOTT

[07] KAZAKH OFFICIAL CASTS DOUBT ON RESUMPTION OF

[08] KAZAKHSTAN'S FOREIGN MINISTER WRAPS UP INDIA

[09] KYRGYZSTAN BOMBS GUERRILLAS' ASSUMED POSITIONS

[10] KYRGYZSTAN RE-REGISTERS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

[11] U.S. CALLS FOR FOUR-WAY AGREEMENT ON TRANS-

[12] UZBEKISTAN SCHEDULES PARLIAMENTARY, PRESIDENTIAL

[13] UZBEK PRESIDENT SAYS TAJIK AUTHORITIES CANNOT

[14] ...SAYS ETHNIC UZBEKS FIGHTING IN DAGHESTAN

[15] HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION CONDEMNS UZBEK

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[16] MASSIVE TURNOUT FOR BELGRADE RALLY...

[17] ...INCLUDING DRASKOVIC

[18] CEKU SAYS UCK MEETS DISARMAMENT DEADLINE...

[19] ...CRITICIZES UN POLICE RECRUITMENT

[20] KOSOVARS DISCOVER MORE MASS GRAVES

[21] ALBANIAN TELECOM TO EXTEND LINES INTO

[22] OVER 1,000 KOSOVAR ROMA ARRIVE IN ITALY

[23] STATE DEPARTMENT OBJECTS TO BOSNIAN CORRUPTION

[24] ...BUT 'NEW YORK TIMES' STANDS ITS GROUND

[25] CONTROVERSY CONTINUES OVER BOSNIAN CORRUPTION

[26] ROMANIAN PREMIER SAYS 'NO ALTERNATIVE' TO

[27] ROMANIAN MENINGITIS EPIDEMIC CONTINUES SPREADING

[28] MOLDOVAN HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS MAY RECEIVE

[29] BULGARIA COUNTS ON NATO MEMBERSHIP BY 2004

[C] END NOTE

[30] UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: SEEKING A

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS TO HOLD FURTHER

Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev will meet his

Armenian counterpart, Robert Kocharian, in Geneva on 22

August for a second round of confidential talks aimed at

trying to resolve the Karabakh conflict, Reuters and ITAR-

TASS reported on 19 August. Azerbaijani State Foreign Policy

Adviser Vafa Guluzade told RFE/RL's Armenian service on 19

August that the meeting bodes well for peace in the

disputed enclave. Following an earlier meeting in Geneva in

mid-July, President Aliev said both sides should be prepared

to compromise in order to achieve a settlement of the

conflict. LF

[02] AZERBAIJANI JOURNALIST MURDERED

journalist with the independent television station DM in

Balaken Raion, was stabbed to death on the station's

premises by unknown persons on 17 August, according to a

press release issued two days later by Reporters sans

Frontieres. That organization has called on Azerbaijan's

Justice Minister Sudabah Hassanova to launch an investigation

into the crime and determine whether the murder was

directly related to Didirov's journalistic activities. LF

[03] ABKHAZ PRESIDENT TO RUN FOR SECOND TERM

Ardzinba has agreed to run as a candidate in the 3 October

presidential elections, Caucasus Press reported on 20

August, quoting Central Electoral Commission chairman

Vyacheslav Tsugba. Ardzinba's candidacy has been proposed

by numerous public organizations in the unrecognized

breakaway republic. No other challenger has yet been

registered for the poll, the legality of which is not

internationally recognized. The deadline for registration is 24

August. Candidates must have lived in Abkhazia for five years

prior to the poll. LF

[04] A GEORGIAN POLICEMAN'S LOT IS NOT A HAPPY ONE

perform their constabulary duties without being paid.

Policemen in Terjola and the town of Kutaisi have not

received wages for one year, while their colleagues in

Sachkhere Raion have not been paid for 42 months,

according to "Rezonansi" on 19 August. LF

[05] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRO-PRESIDENTIAL PARTY CONFIDENT

Leading members

of the Otan (Fatherland) Party, which was formed shortly

after the January 1999 presidential elections to support

Nursultan Nazarbaev, told journalists in Almaty on 19 August

that they are confident Otan will win a majority in the

parliamentary elections on 17 September and 10 October,

Reuters reported. OTAN plans to field 10 candidates to

contest the 10 seats allocated under the proportional

system. It will also field 55 candidates in the 67 single-

mandate constituencies. Otan's election campaign is

spearheaded by parliamentary speaker Marat Ospanov, who

has consistently criticized the cabinet of Nurlan Balghymbaev.

Ospanov said on 19 August that Balghymbaev's cabinet has

"failed miserably" and "turned the majority of the people

against economic reform." He added that Otan advocates

radical changes to the government's present economic

policy. LF

[06] ...WHILE OPPOSITION PARTY THREATEN TO BOYCOTT

Vitalii Voronov, who heads the election campaign

staff of former Premier Akezhan Kazhegeldin's People's

Republican Party of Kazakhstan, told journalists in Almaty on

19 August that the party will boycott the poll if Kazhegeldin

is not permitted to register as a candidate, Interfax

reported. Kazhegeldin was barred from running in the January

presidential poll because earlier he had been found guilty of

an administrative offense. Under the new election law, such

offenses do not disqualify potential candidates, but it is

unclear whether Kazhegeldin's conviction for contempt of

court makes him ineligible. Voronov said the new election law

is inconsistent with international democratic standards.

Meeting with President Nazarbaev in Astana on 18 August,

U.S. Ambassador Richard Jones expressed approval of the

amendments to the election law and said he hopes that all

political parties will be granted an equal opportunity to

participate, RFE/RL's bureau in the capital reported. LF

[07] KAZAKH OFFICIAL CASTS DOUBT ON RESUMPTION OF

Kazakhstan's Aerospace Agency

Director Meirbek Moldabekov told Interfax on 19 August that

he doubts whether Kazakhstan will lift by 31 August the

current ban on launches of Russian Proton rockets from the

Baikonur cosmodrome. Kazakhstan imposed the ban last

month after a Proton rocket exploded shortly after blast-off

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 and 8 July 1999). On 18 August,

Russian Space Agency First Deputy Director Valerii Alaverdov

predicted the imminent lifting of the ban. But Moldabekov said

that prediction reflects only Alaverdov's "personal

prognosis." Moscow made the first $12.5 million payment last

week toward its annual $165 million lease for the Baikonur

facility (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 August 1999). LF

[08] KAZAKHSTAN'S FOREIGN MINISTER WRAPS UP INDIA

Visiting New Delhi on 17-18 August, Kasymzhomart

Toqaev met with Indian Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee and with

senior government officials to discuss expanding and

economic trade cooperation, including in the oil and gas

sector, ITAR-TASS and RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported on

19 August. The two sides signed several agreements

including one on cooperating to fight international crime. LF

[09] KYRGYZSTAN BOMBS GUERRILLAS' ASSUMED POSITIONS

of southern Kyrgyzstan where Uzbek guerrillas had held four

Kyrgyz officials hostage earlier this month, RFE/RL's Bishkek

bureau reported on 19 August, quoting Presidential

Administration official Bolot Dzhanuzakov. It is unclear

whether the guerrillas remain in the region or whether any of

them were injured in the bombing raids. LF

[10] KYRGYZSTAN RE-REGISTERS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

for Human Rights (KCHR), told a press conference in Bishkek

on 19 August that the Justice Ministry has finally re-

registered his committee, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported.

The committee's registration was revoked in September

1998 after its members had criticized the planned

referendum on amendments to the country's constitution.

Dyryldaev said the Justice Ministry also withdrew the

registration certificate issued to a body formed by members

who broke away from the KCHR and registered a rival body

with the same name in April 1999. Dyryldaev and his

supporters have been campaigning since then for the re-

registration of their committee (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13

May and 2 June 1999). LF

[11] U.S. CALLS FOR FOUR-WAY AGREEMENT ON TRANS-

Speaking to journalists in Ashgabat on

19 August following his talks with Turkmen President

Saparmurat Niyazov, U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson

urged Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey to sign

a legal agreement committing their support for the planned

Trans-Caspian gas export pipeline, ITAR-TASS reported.

Richardson said the swift signing of such an agreement would

expedite the solution of financing problems. A protracted

dispute between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan over

ownership of Caspian oilfields is perceived as an obstacle to

such an agreement. Richardson also told journalists that

Niyazov had agreed that Azerbaijan should be entitled to an

unspecified amount of the pipeline's estimated annual

throughput capacity from its recently discovered Shah Deniz

reserves, according to Interfax. Also on 19 August, the U.S.

Agency for Trade and Development gave Ashgabat a

$150,000 grant toward consulting services for drafting the

legal foundations for the pipeline project, AP reported. LF

[12] UZBEKISTAN SCHEDULES PARLIAMENTARY, PRESIDENTIAL

President Islam Karimov told journalists on 19

August that a new parliament and local councils will be

elected on 5 December and presidential elections will take

place on 9 January, Reuters and Interfax reported. The

parliament, which reconvened on 19 August following the

summer recess, must endorse those dates. Karimov did not

confirm that he will run for re-election. He was elected to that

post in 1991, and his mandate was prolonged in a 1995

referendum. LF

[13] UZBEK PRESIDENT SAYS TAJIK AUTHORITIES CANNOT

During a break in the 19 August

parliamentary session, President Karimov criticized the

government of neighboring Tajikistan, which, he said, is

unable to control the situation in the eastern part of the

country. Noting that states are obliged to ensure the safety

of their borders, Karimov blamed the Tajik authorities for

permitting a group of armed militants, including ethnic Uzbeks,

to cross into neighboring Kyrgyzstan, where they took four

Kyrgyz officials hostage. Also on 19 August, the Russian

Foreign Ministry expressed its regret at the 15 August

bombing by Uzbek combat aircraft of border districts in

Tajikistan, describing that action as a violation of Tajikistan's

sovereignty. The Russian statement expressed the hope that

the raid will not adversely affect relations between Tajikistan

and Uzbekistan. The Kyrgyz authorities had asked Uzbekistan

to bomb the region of southern Kyrgyzstan where the

guerrillas were entrenched (see above). LF

[14] ...SAYS ETHNIC UZBEKS FIGHTING IN DAGHESTAN

an unspecified number of young Uzbeks are currently fighting

in Daghestan on the side of the Islamists, Interfax reported.

He said the young men concerned had been trained by

Jordanian-born field commander Khottab. LF

[15] HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION CONDEMNS UZBEK

Human Rights Watch on 19 August accused

Uzbekistan of torture and political persecution following the

sentencing the previous day of six men accused of

participating in the February bombings in Tashkent, Reuters

reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 August 1999). Five of

the six were members of the Erk Party, which was banned in

1992. All had been repeatedly tortured during the pre-trial

investigation. According to Human Rights Watch, their only

transgression was ownership of a banned newspaper and

their political convictions. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[16] MASSIVE TURNOUT FOR BELGRADE RALLY...

150,000 people attended a demonstration in Belgrade on 19

August to demand the resignation of Yugoslav President

Slobodan Milosevic. Several opposition leaders, academics,

and Serbian Orthodox clerics addressed the gathering.

Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic told enthusiastic

listeners that the opposition will hold daily street protests if

Milosevic does not resign within two weeks. Observers noted

that the Yugoslav leader is unlikely to bow to his opponents'

demands. The opposition's main hope is to encourage

Milosevic's colleagues and supporters to abandon the

Yugoslav leader and join the opposition in daily displays of

"people's power" on the streets of Serbia's main cities and

towns. PM

[17] ...INCLUDING DRASKOVIC

mercurial leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement,

unexpectedly turned up at the 19 August Belgrade

gathering. He told listeners that no one should attempt to

"take power from the streets," calling instead for early

elections to be held by the end of November. Draskovic said

recently that he would not attend the meeting. One of his

spokesmen told the BBC on 20 August that Draskovic

"happened to be in the center of Belgrade" and was

"compelled" by supporters to speak to the crowd. Observers

suggested that he may have intended to address the

gathering all along but did not make his intentions known until

the last minute in order to increase the dramatic effect. He

may also have wanted to reaffirm his standing as an

opposition leader in the wake of rumors that he recently

made a deal with Milosevic to hold early elections (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 19 August 1999). PM

[18] CEKU SAYS UCK MEETS DISARMAMENT DEADLINE...

Kosova Liberation Army (UCK), said in Prishtina on 19 August

that the UCK has met NATO's second deadline for its

disarmament, an RFE/RL South Slavic Service correspondent

reported. Ceku pledged to complete the UCK's

demilitarization by 19 September, which is the scheduled end

of the third and final phase of disarmament. An unidentified

KFOR official told Reuters "I don't think there will be any

problem with our saying that they have met the deadline, but

we can't announce it officially yet." In June, the UCK pledged

to hand in by 19 August all heavy weapons, all long-barreled

weapons, such as Kalashnikov rifles, and 60 percent of all

automatic small arms. FS

[19] ...CRITICIZES UN POLICE RECRUITMENT

August, Ceku criticized the UN Mission in Kosovo

(UNMIK) for including only a small number of former UCK

members among the first group of local police recruits.

According to dpa, only three UCK members have been

accepted in the initial recruiting stage for the force.

Some 200 people have been recruited during this first

stage. The recruits will undergo five weeks of training at

a police academy scheduled to be inaugurated on 21

August. Ceku stressed that "since it was founded, the

Kosova Liberation Army has made it very clear that it is

determined to achieve a democratic society in Kosova,

which will be multi-ethnic and based on tolerance and

respect for diversity," Reuters reported. FS

[20] KOSOVARS DISCOVER MORE MASS GRAVES

Albanians discovered a mass grave site near Dragodan

on 19 August, AP reported. Fadil Batalli, director of

Prishtina's Forensic Institute, said that the bodies of up

to 200 ethnic Albanians may be buried there. KFOR

spokesman Roland Lavoie said KFOR troops will notify

the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former

Yugoslavia about the site. FS

[21] ALBANIAN TELECOM TO EXTEND LINES INTO

Albanian Prime Minister Pandeli Majko said in

Tirana on 19 August that the state-owned Albanian

Telecom will invest $200,000 to establish a microwave

telephone link between Albania and Kosova and to install

30 pay phones in Gjakova, an RFE/RL South Slavic

Service correspondent reported. Majko made the

remarks after a meeting of Telecom's board of

directors. Majko recalled that in late July the

governments of Albania and Montenegro agreed to link

Shkodra and Podgorica with a fiber-optic telephone

cable. He expressed hope that the two projects will

promote regional integration. The Albanian government

is planning to build similar links with Macedonia and

Greece, Reuters reported. FS

[22] OVER 1,000 KOSOVAR ROMA ARRIVE IN ITALY

boat carrying more than 1,100 Roma refugees, mostly from

Kosova, arrived at Italy's southern coast on 19 August. The

boat contained mostly women and children. FS

[23] STATE DEPARTMENT OBJECTS TO BOSNIAN CORRUPTION

State Department spokesman James Rubin said in

Washington on 19 August that a recent report in "The New

York Times" on corruption in Bosnia-Herzegovina

exaggerated the extent of the problem (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 17 August 1999). He added: "It's hard enough to

get support in this country for foreign assistance as it is. To

have a false and unjustified and unsubstantiated perception

that a billion dollars in foreign aid money has been stolen by

the Bosnians...harms that cause.... We would like to see

corrective measures taken that create the truth and not this

false perception," Rubin noted. PM

[24] ...BUT 'NEW YORK TIMES' STANDS ITS GROUND

York Times" Foreign Editor Andrew Rosenthal told Reuters on

19 August that, after talks with Rubin, the newspaper will

publish corrections to three "details" of its story. Rosenthal

stressed, however, that its story is largely correct. "We have

reviewed all of [Rubin's'] complaints and found a couple of

minor points on which we think we made factual errors, which

we are going to correct in the paper tonight. The basic

premise of the story is completely sound," the foreign editor

noted. The previous day, the paper wrote that all of the

"lost" $1 billion was international aid. U.S. government

spokesmen have said that the aid component of the money

embezzled is a tiny proportion, perhaps less than 2 percent.

A spokeswoman for the international community's Wolfgang

Petritsch said recently in Sarajevo that most of the stolen

funds were Bosnian public money. PM

[25] CONTROVERSY CONTINUES OVER BOSNIAN CORRUPTION

New York Times," said that he stands by his story, RFE/RL's

South Slavic Service reported on 20 August. He rejected

recent charges by Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic

that the article constitutes a "witch hunt against the Bosnian

authorities." In Banja Luka, Republika Srpska Deputy Prime

Minister Ostoja Kremanovic said that "corruption does not

exist" in the Bosnian Serb entity. He acknowledged, however,

that there may be "isolated cases" in which individuals have

used their public office for personal gain. PM

[26] ROMANIAN PREMIER SAYS 'NO ALTERNATIVE' TO

In an interview with RFE/RL on 19

August, Prime Minister Radu Vasile said there is no alternative

to the government's austerity program. He noted that the

National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) may

have to pay the political price for the austerity program but

added that any government formed after the 2000 elections

will have to pursue the same policy and respect the

conditions the IMF has imposed on Romania. Vasile added that

the PNTCD must "take into consideration the country's

realities." If it wants to stay in power after 2000, the PNTCD

cannot ignore the political strength of social democracy, he

said. He explained that this does not "necessarily" mean,

however, that the PNTCD must form a coalition with the Party

of Social Democracy in Romania, which, he said, many had

understood him to be advocating. MS

[27] ROMANIAN MENINGITIS EPIDEMIC CONTINUES SPREADING

every day, according to data released by the Health Ministry,

RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The number of

registered cases now totals 2,160, of which 77 percent are

under the age of 19. Meanwhile, an epidemic of chronic

conjunctivitis has broken out, with most cases being

registered in Bucharest. MS

[28] MOLDOVAN HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS MAY RECEIVE

Moldovan Jews and Roma who survived the

Holocaust may become eligible for compensation under the

$1.25 billion collective suit filed in the U.S. against Swiss

banks, according to Olga Tichovskaya, coordinator of the

compensation information program for Roma. Flux on 18

August reported her as saying that her task is "extremely

difficult" because about one-third of Moldovan Roma are

illiterate. Therefore, the information will also be disseminated

by enlisting the help of the four Moldovan Roma ethnic

organizations. According to unofficial estimates, about

100,000 Roma live in Moldova. MS

[29] BULGARIA COUNTS ON NATO MEMBERSHIP BY 2004

talks in 2001 and that the negotiations will be successfully

concluded by 2004, Deputy Defense Minister Velizar

Shalamanov said on 19 August, according to ITAR-TASS. The

same day, the Bulgarian Defense Ministry released an "action

plan for NATO membership," in line with U.S. suggestions for

countries seeking NATO admission. The plan is divided into

five sections that deal with political, economic, defense, legal,

and security issues. Shalamanov said a program will be

worked out next year that includes specific target dates and

how the funds will be provided to meet those dates. He

added that the goal of the plan is to demonstrate the

irreversibility of military reforms in line with the NATO

principles of civilian control over the army and of operational

capability. MS

[C] END NOTE

[30] UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: SEEKING A

by Jan Maksymiuk

By the 1 August deadline, Ukraine's Central Electoral

Commission had registered nine candidates for the 31

October presidential elections: President Leonid Kuchma,

parliamentary speaker Oleksandr Tkachenko, Communist Party

leader Petro Symonenko, Socialist Party leader Oleksandr

Moroz, Progressive Socialist Party chairwoman Natalya

Vitrenko, former Premier Yevhen Marchuk, Cherkasy Mayor

Volodymyr Oliynyk, as well as Hennadiy Udovenko and Yuriy

Kostenko, leaders of the two splinter groups of the Popular

Rukh.

Following complaints by six other aspirants, the Supreme

Court ordered the commission also to register Social

Democratic Party leader Vasyl Onopenko, Mykola Haber of

the Patriotic Party, Oleksandr Rzhavskyy of the Single

Fatherland party, Oleksandr Bazylyuk of the Slavic Party,

Vitaliy Kononov of the Green Party, and Yuriy Karmazin of the

Party of the Fatherland's Defenders.

The sheer number of presidential hopefuls makes an

analysis of their election prospects a complicated task.

Moreover, virtually all of the incumbent president's main rivals

come from the left of the political spectrum, as a result of

which their election programs are frequently similar, if not

identical, on a variety of issues. But this state of affairs is

problematic not only for analysts. The candidates themselves

are experiencing difficulties forging their own distinctive

political identity among the dozen or so competitors. For this

reason, the main candidates are not only presenting their

political platforms but are also seeking to project a

"mythologized" image. Such images are usually limited to a

handful of slogans, but it seems that such devices may be at

least as important as official programs in mustering votes on

31 October.

Incumbent President Kuchma is constantly present in the

Ukrainian media and therefore has no need to seek to

project his image in any special way. His re-election bid is

handicapped, however, by Ukraine's disastrous economic

situation. While keeping silent on economic issues, Kuchma's

image-makers advertise him as a world statesman and the

only Ukrainian politician who has some clout in the West.

According to them, Kuchma is the only guarantor of Ukraine's

transformation, and his re-election would mean the

continuation of current reforms.

Communist Party leader Symonenko lacks luster as a

politician, but his assets include the unwavering support of

the largest caucus in the parliament as well as that of

disillusioned pensioners and the unemployed, who are openly

nostalgic for the Soviet era. Symonenko promotes himself as

the defender of the "ordinary people," an enemy of

international financial organizations, and a proponent of

Ukraine's integration with Russia and Belarus.

Progressive Socialist Party chairwoman Vitrenko is the

most radical and populist presidential candidate among those

on the left wing. While earlier she had vehemently promoted

herself as the only "true Marxist" in Ukraine, she now prefers

to underscore her economic education and doctorate. Her

"reform" program advocates reintroducing a command

economy, halting privatization, and breaking all relations with

the IMF and the World Bank. She sharply criticizes both

Communist Symonenko and Socialist Moroz as "opportunists"

and "betrayers" of the socialist idea.

Socialist Party leader Moroz trails far behind Symonenko

and Vitrenko in the polls, but this has not stopped him from

asserting that he is the only leftist candidate able to defeat

Kuchma. (It is expected that no candidate will win the first

round of elections on 31 October and that Kuchma will face a

left-wing rival two weeks later.) Moroz claims to be a

moderate leftist who can attract communist, socialist, and

social democratic votes. His party's newspaper, "Tovarysh"

(Comrade), promotes him as an "intelligent" and "decent" man.

Former Premier Marchuk is presented--especially by the

newspaper "Den," which he sponsors--as a "strongman," a

kind of Ukrainian General de Gaulle, whom the country

urgently needs as it sinks into socio-economic chaos and is

plagued by widespread corruption. Marchuk's campaigners

make much of his former capacity as Ukraine's Security

Service chairman--with the rank of general, no less--as proof

that he is able to do away with corruption. (By the same

token, they fail to mention his Soviet KGB activities). His main

election slogan affirms that Ukraine can overcome the current

crisis "on its own." He also tries to pose as a centrist equally

suited to representing both the western ("nationalist") and

eastern (more Russia-oriented) parts of Ukraine.

While Tkachenko emphasizes his grass-roots origins and

political career (he was born into a peasant family and

ascended all steps of the Soviet state and party hierarchy,

from raion party secretary to first deputy prime minister), he

projects the image of the people's savior (who has a

program of economic revival until 2015) and of a statesman

equal in rank and importance to the incumbent president. "I

am not the first person in Ukraine, but neither am I the

second" is his well-publicized self-appraisal. Tkachenko is also

another staunch supporter of Ukrainian integration with

Russia and Belarus.

Other candidates appear less outspoken than the six

"heavyweights" listed above. However, their role in the

overall distribution of votes on 31 October should not be

underestimated. While lacking significant electoral support

and/or distinctive media images, they may nonetheless have

an influence on the final tallies of those leading the polls. And

by voicing their preferences for the anticipated second

round, they may tip the election balance in favor of one of

the two final candidates.

20-08-99

Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org

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