The freedom-loving people of Ukraine have for many centuries accumulated traditions of local self-governance, and today these traditions become the guarantee of Ukraine’s freedom and its future. We will be victorious! The people’s strength cannot be overcome. November 25, 2004, Ukrainian House, Kyiv
In the span of about six weeks in late 2004, Ukraine's Orange Revolution dramatically demonstrated how the peaceful outpouring of citizens’ will can defeat a corrupt government.
The quotation above, part of the Political Resolution issued by local officials who had gathered in Kyiv primarily from western and central Ukraine, reflects the eloquence of Ukrainians’ expressions of their desire for freedom and their nonviolent approach of coming together to secure it.
The Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC), a nonpartisan local
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| The main stage at Independence Square in Kyiv. Leaders of the Orange Revolution spoke here to demonstrators every evening. [PHOTO: Jordan Sirakov] |
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government support organization, demonstrates strong commitment to open government and public debate through its website, AUC Dialog. The site, launched in 2002 with RTI’s assistance and funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), provides Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages an uncensored venue for sharing policy and advocacy views, information, and experience within the AUC network and with citizens.
As the Orange Revolution unfolded, AUC Dialog revealed the courage of those who posted support for the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, and how a single event uncapped a wave of discontent with corruption and united officials in demanding democracy.
AUC Dialog—Designed for Transparency
RTI helped form the AUC in 1993 as part of the Municipal Finance and Management Project, funded by USAID. Built on principles of transparency and citizen participation, AUC’s membership now comprises 488 municipalities—including 370 cities and 118 villages, a majority of the country's municipalities. RTI also helped AUC build citizen participation through training that increased collaboration among communities at different administrative levels, and produced films, which aired on national television, to educate citizens on the role of local government.
“AUC’s and RTI’s transparency-building efforts paid off during the Orange Revolution,” said Bohdan Radejko, an RTI governance specialist. “AUC Dialog was one of very few outlets where municipal officials could effectively reach a national audience without censorship,” he said.
A Microcosm of Change
The spark that ignited the Orange Revolution was the Ukrainian Central Election Committee’s (CEC’s) announcement of the results from the November 21 presidential election runoff between Viktor Yanukovych—backed by outgoing President Leonid Kuchma and actively supported by the Russian government—and the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, who supported closer ties with Western Europe. The CEC ruled that Yanukovych had won the runoff; however, exit polls indicated that Yushchenko had won. In addition, widespread instances of election graft, including ballot-box stuffing and abuse of absentee ballots, were reported by the opposition.
Protests among Yushchenko’s supporters multiplied quickly, especially in western and central Ukraine, and most visibly on Independence Square in Kyiv, where hundreds of thousands of his supporters gathered on November 22.
“AUC Dialog was a microcosm of the revolution,” said Radejko. “Many municipalities posted their councils’ appeals of protest against the CEC ruling—a courageous act because of the tremendous pressure from the Kuchma government to silence and remove pro-Yushchenko mayors and city officials before the election.”
On November 23, the Kyiv City Council was first to react on AUC Dialog, indicating that its members did not trust the CEC’s results. In Chernihiv, in north central Ukraine, the city Web administrator reported that 3,000 protestors had gathered on the main square to demand that the city council meet and approve a resolution of support for Yushchenko.
Appeal from Burshtyn City Council
We, representatives of citizens of Burshtyn, city council members, express our disagreement with the election results announced by the CEC for the elections that took place on November 21, 2004. We consider them falsified in favor of the pro-government candidate, Mr. Yanukovych. We demand annulment of the election results that the CEC published for electoral districts in Donetsk, Luhansk, and other oblasts where falsifications were allowed and where pro-opposition election observers were removed, and declare Viktor Yushchenko the President of Ukraine. We turn to all who hold Ukrainian independence and democracy dear not to be passive, but actively demand your constitutional right. —AUC Dialog, November 24, 2004 |
By November 24, dozens of large and small cities had posted appeals on AUC Dialog denouncing the CEC and in some cases declaring their support for Yushchenko. The Burshtyn City Council, located in western Ukraine, communicated a vote of no confidence in the CEC and posted an appeal to its citizens to act on behalf of democratic elections by supporting Yushchenko’s call for protests.
Support for Yanukovych also was posted on AUC Dialog. On November 25, the Odessa City Council, in south central Ukraine, posted its vote of 77 to 2 to declare that the November 21 runoff was free and fair. The mayor of Myrhorod, in eastern Ukraine, assured the city council that electoral fraud was not reported in the city’s election districts.
“During the Orange Revolution, traffic was heavy on AUC Dialog,” said Radejko. “As support for Yushchenko gathered
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| Part of the Orange Revolution's tent camp near Independence Square in Kyiv. [PHOTO: Jordan Sirakov] |
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momentum, the site’s efficiency in disseminating information and helping to coordinate activities was clear.”
On November 25, four days after the runoff election, 691 city, town, and village officials and council members from western and central Ukraine gathered in the Ukrainian House near Kyiv’s Independence Square. This extraordinary assembly issued an appeal to the President and the Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, to dissolve the present CEC and form a new one, to hold new presidential elections, and to ensure that law enforcement protected citizens’ constitutional rights.
“This gathering was not sponsored by the AUC, which had maintained a neutral stance, but AUC Dialog was a key tool in communicating and building support for the assembly,” said Robert Bodo, RTI’s chief of party in Ukraine.
In late November, some pro-Yanukovych officials suggested on AUC Dialog that protests could lead to the breakup of Ukraine. On December 2, the AUC president and the head of the Ukrainian Association of Villages and Settlements jointly posted a remarkable statement strongly condemning statements by the governors who threatened separation.
Despite expressions for separatism, vast support for Yushchenko was undeniable. “By early December, a few administrative
Neither language nor culture divides us. The current government divides us!
—Part of an appeal from citizens of the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast read at a gathering of 50,000 protestors in Ivano-Frankivsk on November 29, 2004, and posted on AUC Dialog on December 4.
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strongholds for Yanukovych, such as Volyn, Zhytomir, and Sumy, announced support for Yushchenko,” said Radejko. On December 5, Lutsk’s mayor, the oblast (province) secretary of a pro-Kuchma political party, posted a statement on AUC Dialog that his party’s representatives in Parliament, who had voted against a vote of no confidence in the Yanukovych government, were out of step with the party membership and that he fully supported the overwhelming majority of citizens of Lutsk in their support for Yushchenko.
By December 12, discussion about the revolution on AUC Dialog started to taper off. Ukraine’s Constitutional Court had declared the results of the November 21 runoff invalid, and a new runoff election was scheduled for December 26.
The header on AUC Dialog’s website reads: AUC Dialog—the Voice and Experience of Ukrainian Cities. “AUC, with RTI’s assistance, built a bold policy of fostering open discussion on AUC Dialog, and it’s a credit to AUC leadership that this policy was maintained during the tense days of the revolution,” said Radejko.
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It was a great honor and privilege to be an international elections observer on behalf of Freedom House and the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) during Ukraine’s presidential elections in 2004. During the presidential election on October 31, I was an observer in the Ternopil region, the heartland of democracy in Ukraine. During the second runoff election on December 26, I was an observer in the Kirovohrad region.
The enthusiasm of the Ukrainian people was inspiring. They showed the world that they are people with pride and dignity and would not allow themselves to be manipulated by corrupt officials. At this crucial moment in their history, Ukrainians were united in defending their fragile democracy. I was happy to be a participant in this historic event.
—Jordan Sirakov, Policy Team Program Specialist, USAID/RTI Bulgaria Local Government Initiative |
More information:
Robert Bodo, e-mail rbodo@rti.org
Also see article: “AUC Dialog: A Free Voice of Ukrainian Cities” (Word document) by Margaryta Yurchenko and Oleksandr Ponomarenko of the Information and Technological Policy Department, Association of Ukrainian Cities and Communities.
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