Two Guelph professors among Canadian observers at recent elections in Ukraine and Palestine
BY REBECCA KENDALL
While many of us were watching TV reports or reading newspaper accounts of the recent elections in Ukraine and Palestine, Profs. Fred Eidlin and William Christian, Political Science, were witnessing history in the making first-hand as election observers.
On Dec. 21, Eidlin left Ottawa for Kiev with a delegation of 500 Canadians to observe the second round of the Ukrainian presidential election. The first election a month earlier had been widely disputed amid allegations of media bias, intimidation and the poisoning of candidate Viktor Yushchenko. The results of the election were later annulled, making way for a second election Dec. 26.
The Canadian delegation had two days of orientation in Ottawa and another two in Kiev. They were then deployed to various locations to begin preparing for election day.
The purpose of inviting international observers, says Eidlin, was “to make sure the election was fair. There appears to have been very little fraud on this round. The very presence of so many foreign observers deterred the kind of fraud that led to invalidation of the first election.”
His tasks included spot-checking polls, following ballot boxes used in mobile voting and ensuring that too many people weren't trying to vote at once or that some weren't trying to vote more than once. Monitors were asked to point out any violations to those staffing the polls, as well as to their team leaders. They were also encouraged to make suggestions for improving procedures.
Eidlin says the election officials he observed in his five assigned polls in Rivne, a province in the northwestern region of the country, were careful to follow proper procedure.
A specialist in countries of the former Soviet Union, of which Ukraine was once a part, he speaks both Russian and Czech and understands Ukrainian. Although Rivne is an entirely Ukrainian-speaking region, he found that people were quite willing to speak Russian, so his inability to speak Ukrainian wasn't a problem.
“The people I met were excited and pleased with all the international attention they were getting. And almost all of the election officials I observed, regardless of which candidate they represented, were trying hard to do things right.”
Eidlin believes his experience in Ukraine and Russia, his linguistic skills and his familiarity with elections as a political scientist are what earned him a place in the Canadian delegation out of a pool of some 2,000 applicants.
He says he was impressed to note the number of observers who were graduates of Guelph's political science and international development programs. “I think it's evidence of the international focus of the University,” he says.
The grads included Adrian Walraven of the Eastern European division of the Canadian International Development Agency; Department of Foreign Affairs political officer Curtis Peters and assignment officer Charlene Budnisky; and Jason Hollman, first secretary of the Canadian Embassy in Kiev. Other former Guelph political science students participating were Mick Wicklum, Orest Zakydalsky and Leanne MacDougall.
Eidlin notes that all of the observers “had the feeling of witnessing a really historic event.”
While the political scientist was returning to Canada, Christian was preparing for his trip to the Middle East. He was one of only 20 Canadian observers keeping close watch over the Jan. 9 election to select the new president of the Palestinian Authority following the November death of Yasser Arafat.
Christian received two full days of training before travelling to Ramallah, 10 miles north of Jerusalem, in central Palestine. The observers were given vests that clearly identified their role, cellphones and medical kits, as well as drivers and Arabic-speaking translators.
His duties were similar to Eidlin's, but he faced some unique challenges.
“There's an army of occupation there, namely the Israeli army, and there are checkpoints and roadblocks and all sorts of things that are barriers to movement,” says Christian. “You can't just look at a road and assume it's passable. There might be stone blocks or a mound of earth on it. We had to make sure we could actually get to the villages where we were supposed to monitor the polling stations.”
This was done by surveying the area in advance with the driver and translator to ensure they could locate the polls. This wasn't a simple task because places aren't clearly marked, especially in rural or remote areas, he says. Next, they had to figure out alternative routes should a road become blocked.
In this election, safety was a big issue, especially for those serving and voting in Gaza, an area known to experience bombings and gunfire, says Christian. Although no one would have been trying to shoot election observers, there could have been collateral damage, he says.
One of the things he enjoyed most about his experience in the Middle East was meeting the people of Palestine and talking about their concerns and expectations for the election. “
Christian notes that, although Arafat was charismatic and loved by his people, Israel often refused to negotiate with him because he wasn't an elected leader. The same can't be said for the new president.
“Mahmoud Abbas is as democratically elected as Paul Martin, and this was the freest and fairest election that has ever been held in the Arab world. He has as much legitimacy and as much authority as any other head of state.”
Christian says he's proud to have been part of an election that he hopes will be a new beginning for peace in the Middle East.
