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Home page  About CSIS Programs Russia and Eurasia Program Ukraine Election Delegations to Ukraine
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Election Delegations to Ukraine
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Election Delegations to Ukraine — The CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program made three high-level delegation missions to Kyiv in 2004 to support the conduct of a free and fair presidential election in October of that year. The first delegation was led in May by Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, CSIS counselor and trustee; the second by Ambassador Robert Hunter, U.S. Ambassador to NATO (1993-1998), in early October; and the third by Ambassador Thomas Pickering, former U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation and U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs (1997-2001), in mid-October, all of whom were accompanied by Dr. Celeste Wallander and Richard Murphy. The delegation visits were of relatively short duration but highly visible. The delegations met with former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, as well as other senior government cabinet ministers, candidates for political office, officials responsible for the conduct of Ukrainian elections, the U.S. ambassador, leaders of NGOs working to ensure free and fair elections, and scholars and experts on Ukrainian politics and society.
The CSIS delegations served to make the case to the Ukrainian leadership that a free and fair election was the only way to embark toward closer relations with the West. While the U.S. government pressed this message through a variety of official public and private channels, it was also necessary for this message to be delivered from influential figures in private life in order to enhance the credibility of the official message that there was a significant and genuine price to be paid if Ukraine were to fail to meet its international obligations to conduct a free and fair presidential election. In order for this message to be effective and credible, it was provided not only by government officials, but also by prominent Americans involved in the private sector.
Publications:
Dr. Celeste A. Wallander’s March 2005 report, Ukraine’s Election: The Role of One International NGO, a report on international engagement in the run-up to Ukrainian presidential elections. (Russian) (Ukrainian)
Excerpt:
“Many tales of Ukraine’s “Orange Revolution” are now being told. The drama of mass demonstrations, East-West confrontation, poisoning of a political candidate, great power diplomacy, and political deals has drawn and kept the world’s attention. This is a report on one part of this story, less high profile, yet part of the reason why fraudulent elections did not stand in the fall of 2004. It is one small, but perhaps not unimportant, part of the historical accounting of the quiet work undertaken throughout 2004 to support the conduct of free and fair presidential elections in Ukraine.”
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