Violent incidents reported in local election campaigning

Several violent incidents occurred this weekend
involving campaigning for the Oct. 25 local elections, according to news
reports. Most notably, the chief editor of a news site in an Odesa regional
town, Roman Varshanidze, was attacked on Oct. 17 while attending a campaign
event hosted by the local candidate from the pro-Putin Opposition Platform For
Life party. “The methods of violence of the ‘war party’ are being applied to
civilian life,” wrote Varshanidze, who suffered bruises and a concussion.

In the Donetsk city of Sloviansk, the Opposition
Platform For Life candidate for mayor, Pavlo Prydvorov, reported being on the
receiving end of an attack on Oct. 16. A local resident attempted to stab
Prydvorov when he was campaigning at an apartment building. On Oct. 17,
assailants attacked a candidate for the Lviv City Council, Bohdan Kalichak, and
his father following a campaign event in a village. They also inflicted damage
on his automobile. The same night, assailants stormed a campaign meeting of
local candidates of the Opposition Platform party in a Kherson regional city,
spilling green antiseptic on them and stealing their laptop computer.

Zenon Zawada: Although
violent episodes are regrettable in an election, these are nothing new for
Ukraine (or many Western countries, for that matter). And the level of reported
violent incidents, as well as election violations in general, have not exceeded
the norm for Ukrainian elections, as indicated by monitoring organizations. So
far, the local elections are on track to meet international standards of being
free and fair.