Ukrainian Presidential Candidates Exchange Gibes in TV DebateBy

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/16/international/europe/16ukraine.html?
November 16, 2004
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KIEV, Ukraine, Nov. 15 (AP) - Ukraine's two presidential candidates, who finished neck and neck in the first round of voting and are now in a runoff campaign that has often turned hostile, traded barbs about corruption on Monday in a rare televised presidential debate that attracted millions of viewers.

Viktor A. Yushchenko, a Western-leaning reformer, and Prime Minister Viktor F. Yanukovich, seen as the Kremlin's favorite, each won about 39 percent of the vote in the first round, with the rest divided among 22 other candidates in this former Soviet republic of 48 million people on the Black Sea.

Kiev's normally crowded main street was virtually empty as people packed into bars and cafes to watch the debate, the first televised face-off between Ukrainian presidential candidates since 1994.

Election debates are rare in the former Soviet states. When Boris N. Yeltsin ran for the presidency of Russia a second time, he refused to debate his opponents.

Mr. Yanukovich, wearing a handkerchief in his trademark orange campaign color, immediately set the tone for the event. "I came here to tell the truth, looking into your eyes," he said just before beginning a wide-ranging attack on his opponent. "We have a choice: to live according to criminal laws or as honest, well-to-do people."

Mr. Yushchenko peppered his comments with statistics and personal jabs at his rival. He dropped a reference to a spelling mistake Mr. Yanukovich had made in his candidacy application, in which he had misspelled "professor."

Mr. Yanukovich fired back with attacks on Mr. Yushchenko's tenure as head of the central bank and as prime minister.

The runoff vote, on Sunday, is being closely watched by observers as a sign of whether Ukraine is committed to democracy. Observers from a consortium of European and international groups said the first round of voting, on Oct. 31, marred by numerous reports of voter harassment and polling irregularities, had been a step backward.

The election is seen as pivotal for the future of Ukraine, which is increasingly ambitious to exert regional authority. The country, which is slightly smaller than Texas, is flanked by NATO countries to the west and Russia to the east.

The runoff campaign has been marked by widespread complaints from the Yushchenko camp of official interference and abuse and by international criticism of heavy bias in favor of Mr. Yanukovich on state television. Mr. Yanukovich is backed by the departing president, Leonid D. Kuchma, who cannot run for a third term.

In the Rock Cafe in central Kiev, all three television screens were tuned to the debate. Waiters and patrons sat at the bar watching.

"Yushchenko seems like better prepared and more relaxed, but Yanukovich appears as a tough cookie," said Oleksandr Slovich, 29.

During the debate, Mr. Yushchenko's face was notably puffy, perhaps an aftereffect of a mysterious illness that had temporarily knocked him off the campaign trail during the first round. His allies attributed the illness to poisoning by his opponents. But a parliamentary commission found no facts that would "prove a poisoning version," said the head of the panel, Volodimir Sivkovich, the Interfax news agency reported Monday.

Also on Monday, Mr. Yushchenko's headquarters reported that an opposition activist had been beaten by unknown attackers, and that three campaign observers had been detained by the police.