Bohdan Shyba: 'In Turiisk, the authorities waged a real war against voters.'

On February 8, Sunday, elections for a deputy to the regional council were held in multi-mandate district No. 19 (Turiisk district). The victory was celebrated by the incumbent head of the education and science department of the Volyn Regional State Administration, Ivan Dziamyluch. The real contender for the deputyship in the Volyn Regional Council was the candidate from "Our Ukraine," who lost to Ivan Vasyliovych by only 439 votes (2.71%) out of a total of 21,506 voters. Given the past elections, the correspondent of "Lutsk Investment" took an exclusive interview with the second-place candidate for the position of deputy of the regional council, Bohdan Shyba.

B Oh, Bohdan Pavlovych, how do you assess the course of the election campaign conducted by the candidates for the position of deputy of the regional council from Turiishchyna?B I expected a struggle from the elections and hoped in the depths of my soul that it would resemble elections. In reality, it turned out to be a harsh war. The authorities waged an information war, let's call it a psychological war against the voters, against the population, because the goal was the victory of a clearly defined candidate at any cost, regardless of the level of support for that candidate, regardless of whether people want it or not. B But the voters have decided on the person they want to see in the regional council. And it turned out to be Ivan Dziamulych. B The election campaign was conducted with gross violations of election legislation; a lawsuit has been filed in this regard against the actions of state officials who engaged in campaigning. Although it is also hard to call it campaigning when the head of the education department of the district state administration not only campaigns but also sets some obligations, a plan for school principals and teachers. This is what is most frightening. Even before the previous elections, when I was still the head of the district state administration, I urged teachers to nominate educators to government bodies, to support them, to participate in the work of government bodies as deputies, to defend their position, but here it turned out exactly the opposite. They trampled on such a sacred cause, and it is hard for me to comprehend how such people can then speak of the bright, the good, the eternal, teach children, instill in them decency, honesty, and position. I mean the functionaries, not the simple teachers who are driven into a dead end and cannot resist this, although there is a sufficient number of people who did resist it. On voting day there were also violations of election legislation, and especially when they went with ballot boxes to those voters who could not come to the elections. And the lists were written in one handwriting, and the signatures were similar, and strangely enough, most of those ballots that were cast outside the polling station during home voting turned out to be for one candidate, for the candidate from the authorities, and that was a large percentage of votes. That is, to my great regret, the elections turned into a war; the opposition behaved with dignity and decency, we campaigned, told about our program, highlighted our position, did not give assessments and did not use the past of other candidates, although individual candidates or their election headquarters allowed themselves to do so. And the worst thing is that the authorities allowed themselves to use the past of the opposition candidate in order to sway a person's choice toward the candidate from the authorities. B How do you assess the real possibility of fulfilling the promises given to voters by Mr. Dziamulych during the campaign? As far as I know, in one of the villages during a meeting with voters, Ivan Vasyliovych promised to build a swimming pool at the school. B Ivan Vasyliovych promised very much. It seems to me that he was given such an instruction from above. Activists of "Our Ukraine" recorded all these promises, in every village, at every meeting, and, believe me, all those promises are worth millions of hryvnias. And we will demand their fulfillment. The law provides that elections should involve a struggle of programs, not promises and gifts. We have information that to campaign for the candidate from the authorities, tractors and buses were driven to Turiishchyna from other districts, though I don't know for how long. Perhaps after the elections they will be driven back. But we will do everything possible to ensure that it does not happen that these promises are fulfilled by the regional state administration, with whose consent Ivan Vasyliovych Dziamulych promised all this. B What can you say about the professional training of local (residents of Turiishchyna) observers from "Our Ukraine"? My personal opinion is that their professional training was insufficient. B I do not share that opinion. In my opinion, the professional training of observers and members of polling stations was sufficient. People were ready for the elections, and those people had participated in more than one election. Members of precinct commissions and those people involved in the elections were likewise "processed" by the authorities in various ways so that they would not feel calm and comfortable. There was literally individual methodological processing of those people who dared to support the opposition. And therefore people in many cases were confused, frightened, and even agreed to everything the authorities said, so this is not about the professional level of training. Even before these elections, we twice conducted training for people who were to be in election commissions, observers, campaigners, that is, people had basic knowledge, but such a situation of psychological war against one's own people knocks one off course. I felt such things myself and I imagine how painfully simple village people experience it. B Bohdan Pavlovych, is it true that Haikivskyi village resident Anatolii Zholob, who in publications in the Volyn press called you "kum," is a relative?B I will say politely that no. And I would not dare ask him to baptize my children, and he has none of his own, as far as I know. In this regard, neither I can be a kum to him nor he to me. But this was used in order to "bite" more painfully and in such a superior-ironic-sarcastic tone, so that the article would not only work on the voter but also psychologically knock down the one against whom it was written. I do not intend to leave all these facts of law violation for history. Each specific fact will be given a legal assessment in order to prevent this from repeating on a larger scale in the presidential elections. Because, in my opinion, Viktor Yushchenko may have not just one "kum" but a hundred, a thousand. B Do you have direct evidence of the involvement of the deputy head of the regional state administration, Stepan Rodych, in "centralized" campaigning in the Volyn press?B Direct evidence is when a report is drawn up and there are witnesses. I have no such evidence. I can only refer to the words of people who later in a serious situation will not confirm their words. But the fact that Mr. Rodych personally held in his hands and handed over these materials that were to be printed, the fact that he visited the district for this purpose, I know. I cannot assess this from a legal point of view and I have no evidence. B Thank you for the conversation.

In turn, Ivan Dziamulych refused to give any comment regarding the elections until his approval for the position of deputy by the Volyn Regional Council. One can only refer to the comment he gave to the newspaper "Viche" dated February 12 regarding his opinion on the reasons for the victory: "This is evidence of the high level of voters," he noted.