Today was the second long day of briefings we had on the pre-election environment in the Ukraine. We met with representatives of four of the parties in this election, including the big three: Julia Tymoshenko's Block - you've probably seen photos of her with her famous blond braids; Our Ukraine - the president's party; and Party of Regions - the Prime Minister's party.

In order to be seated in Parliament, each party will have to make a showing of at least 3% of the national vote. There is a question as to whether the Socialists and the two Communists parties will reach the required threshold. Nonetheless, all the party representatives are saying the same thing, though from different perspectives. All agree that the voter lists are bad -- they contain "twins" and "dead souls." "Twins" is what the Ukrainians have dubbed duplicate names in the voter lists. "Dead souls" is the Ukrainian term for the dead.

Today we also got our deployment orders. I am headed to Lviv Oblast ("Oblast" is the Ukrainian term for state, or political division). I am paired with a colleague from Ottawa Canada -- a former member of the Canadian Parliament. Due to an emergency elsewhere, one of the NDI staff had to leave. It was determined that my colleague and I were the best able to function without a staff member! We will have a driver and interpreter in Lviv.

Lviv is western Ukraine, bordering Poland. It is considered an historical center, with deep cultural traditions that shaped the world view of Ukraine's political elites propagating national patriotic ideas. During soviet rule, Lviv residents did their best to preserve historical and cultural roots by keeping their language, culture and religion at a time when the party of power was depriving Ukrainians of their national identify attributes. Despite suppression by the Soviet state and the German fascists, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (a non-registered organization which represented a nationalist movement call Rukh and symbolized aspiration of Ukrainians for freedom and democracy) carried on its activities.

Lviv was one of the engines of the Orange revolution alongside Kyiv during the 2004 Presidential election. The day after the fraudulent second round of the Presidential re-run, a million people gathered in the main square of Lviv, comparable only to Kyiv.

There are 2,140 precinct election commissions in the Oblast, in 14 District Election Commissions.

We will arrive Friday afternoon and meet with local officials to discuss the election environment, and to meet other international and local election observers. I hope to see the mandatory historical site as well -- a 12th century Armenian church.

Best,
Anne

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