The presidential elections are at hand; therefore, the candidates have to find new methods and technologies to win the favor of the electorate. But are all of such methods allowed? DUMKA found out what the candidates are prohibited to do due to the Ukrainian legislation, whether there is a place for ethics and morality in this race, how to fight populism and what actions may turn out handy… for competitors.
What are the candidates prohibited to do due to the Ukrainian legislation?
The lawyer Dmytro Bohuslavskyi explained the distinction between the legal and prohibited actions to DUMKA. According to the expert, there is a real responsibility, for example, for bribing voters. There is also a number of technical limitations. But as a rule, it is almost impossible to limit fakes and manipulation in practice.
“Electoral campaigning is the implementation of any activity aimed at encouraging voters to vote or not to vote for a certain candidate for the President of Ukraine. And it can be implemented in various forms, including “other forms that do not contradict with the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine”.
Regarding the limitations, an absolute prohibition of bribery is established (the provision of free goods/services), for which the candidates are even held criminally responsible due to the Law (article 160 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) with a maximum sentence of up to 7 years (in case of repetition).
“For the start” (first-time violation), the punishment for bribery is the restriction of liberty for up to 3 years. By the way, a voter who agreed to “sell his vote for buckwheat” may get a restriction of liberty for up to 2 years.
There are technical limitations:
- for candidates – they must pay for their electoral campaign exclusively at the expense of the election fund, provide samples of printed materials to the Central Election Commission, place the information about the circulation, the client and the printing establishment on the printed materials;
- for mass media (in particular – electronic ones) – they must establish identical pricing of the print areas (or air time) for all candidates, disclose the pricing at least 100 days prior to the election date and provide equal opportunities of placement on these conditions to all candidates (with the exception of the mass media owned by political parties).
Regarding the improper advertising (fakes, manipulation), it is almost impossible to limit it, if it is not obviously inaccurate information,” explains the lawyer.
What about ethics and morality?
Serhii Bykov, a political consultant and the head of the analytical center INPOLIT, is convinced that it is not necessary to talk about ethics during the electoral period, as none of the candidates will violate the generally accepted norms at their own will.
“The electoral campaign is a war. As I like to say, there are no silver medals in politics. There are only the victory and the defeat. Therefore, it is not necessary to talk about the ethics of the facilities for victory during the election period. Of course, none of the candidates will make unethical steps against their opponents with their own hands. There are other controlled politicians, journalists, activists and a lot of other people for such actions,” the expert explained to DUMKA.
It is considered unethical to lie about the opponents, but it never stops those who want to tarnish each other’s reputation. Nevertheless, Serhii Bykov is convinced that it is possible to find a lot of disadvantageous information about almost every politician, and most of such information is in the public domain.
“It is impossible to claim an obvious lie about the candidate ethical, but in general it does occur. The third echelon politicians, activists and other ‘useful idiots’ are constantly engaged in such actions. Sometimes, when the information is too filthy and false, it is published from an anonymous source.
Usually, there is information that will put every candidate in a bad light. Typically, about 80% of such information about the politicians can be found in open sources. And I am not just talking about the filth or the accusations against the politicians. It may also be videos, audios, photos. After the opening of the state register, a lot of interesting information about the court decisions against the politicians can be found (not only personal but also business-related ones). First-Echelon politicians spend a lot of money to destroy negative information about their personal lives on the Internet. But this practice is not always fruitful,” said the expert.
The head of the public organization Association of Political Sciences Dmytro Sinchenko told DUMKA that the ethical and moral principles fade into the background during the elections. According to his words, each of the candidates is ready to resort to any possible methods that can bring victory.
“I will probably say quite an unpopular thing, but morality or ethics cannot be the components of the electoral campaign. The politicians, who will use such principles not only declaratively but also in practice, will lose a priory. Therefore, all political forces use any available methods that can help them to win.
It’s the same as war. Is it moral and ethical to work as a spy? Or a diversionist? After all, they have to lie, manipulate, and sometimes even to kill… However, there is one simple principle – everything that is done by ‘our guys’ is good. Everything the enemy does is evil. In fact, it is virtually the same in politics. The only thing that the candidates and their teams should not allow themselves to violate is the law,” Dmytro Sinchenko reflects.
What technologies can make a cruel joke on the candidate himself?
The issue of advertising and promoting one’s candidacy so as not to harm one’s own rating is a topic for reflection for everyone who attempts to take the presidency. According to Dmytro Sinchenko, both unprofessional actions of their own political strategists, and the rapid reaction of their competitors may play against the candidates.
“It can be either the technologies that will be promptly and effectively “reflected” by competing staffs, the technologies that failed because of incompetence or that were pushed by the political strategists with malicious intent, or those that were intended “to cause indignation in society and to play a cruel joke on one or another candidate”. After all, an ordinary voter will not notice a successful political technology at all, or rather, will not realize that this is a political technology.
The official electoral campaign started not so long time ago, so there are few examples. However, if we consider the informal period, there are plenty of them. For example, the billboards about Ihor Shevchenko’s search for a wife, that undoubtedly caused the excitement of society and immediately turned him into a laughing stock in the eyes of the voter. Or Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement about the decision to run for the presidency on the New Year’s Eve. Here the candidate had the purpose to excite the society, and he managed to do so,” says the head of the public organization Association of Political Sciences.
However, an unsuccessful technology can not only make a cruel joke on its conditional customer but also improve the position of competitors. Serhii Bykov told about it in his commentary.
“From time to time, it happens that the unethical filth works for the benefit of the victim. So, before one of the forums in the framework of the “New course of Ukraine” the billboards with the image of an elderly woman and the inscription “Old lady’s last chance” were placed all around Kyiv. The billboards were stylized accordingly with the design of the advertising of the forum initiated by Yulia Tymoshenko. After this advertising campaign, Tymoshenko’s ratings in the capital increased by an additional 3%,” the political consultant said.
Is it normal to use other people’s achievements in one’s own electoral campaign?
The introduction of volunteers, the ATO veterans, public and cultural figures into the electoral campaign is a step that does not seem to surprise anyone. However, are the politicians allowed to appeal to other people’s successes and achievements in their electoral campaign? Dmytro Sinchenko is convinced that it is normal, especially if we consider the main goal of any candidate: to get new supporters and not to lose the old ones.
“They are allowed and constantly do so. And it is normal, because the candidate is trying to use any means to win. All these means will be perceived positively by his supporters and negatively by his opponents in any case, and it will not be of a great matter. During the electoral campaign, the candidate has two main goals – to get new supporters and not to lose the old ones. The candidate shouldn’t worry about what that fans of competitors think of it”, Sinchenko told.
But Serhii Bykov explained that the use of, for example, the ATO veterans in the electoral campaign of a candidate is a way to convey certain information to the target audience.
“If we consider the introduction of the ATO veterans nowadays – it is a target group. And its use is necessary to convey information about the candidate to the military and the volunteers. If we consider the last parliamentary campaign, its nature was different. The overall military course of the society encouraged each party to involve military and volunteer leaders. As we saw later, they didn’t show high efficiency,” said the expert.
The lawyer Dmytro Bohuslavskyi adds that the systematic involvement of the ATO veterans in the electoral campaign can be regarded as the use of non-election funds.
“The introduction of the ATO veterans into the electoral campaign is possible. The only thing is that their systematic (regular) involvement can be assessed as the use of other funds in the electoral campaign (in addition to the means of the election fund), if such involvement requires costs (on transportation, accommodation and food),” the lawyer notes.
How to fight populism?
The fight against populism is often compared with the windmills which the Cervantes’ hero tried to fight unsuccessfully. However, it does not mean that resistance is impossible. As Dmytro Sinchenko explained to DUMKA, the main thing is to question every thesis of the candidate, to doubt, and to evaluate the election programs, not slogans from billboards.
“Everything is simple here – if the candidate appeals to emotions, but not to logic, avoids answers to direct questions, says things that contradict each other – it is obvious that this is manipulation. If the candidate says unreliable things – he is lying. In order not to fall under the influence of manipulation, the voter must make a choice with his own head, not with his heart. It is necessary to question any thesis of the candidate. Not to deny, but to doubt. Because if you doubt, then you check the facts, then you evaluate the arguments, then you keep your mind cold and think straight.
I would advise you to make your choice based on several things: first, to evaluate the biography of the candidate. Whether he has the necessary experience, skills, talents, success stories. Second, see whether he has ideas. Here it is necessary to evaluate not slogans from billboards, but election programs. I usually evaluate them by the SMART criteria (whether the program is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound). And thirdly, consider the team – the people with whom the candidate is going to implement his program,” the commentary says.
The political strategist Serhii Bykov advised to learn to distinguish populism from the usual lies. So, if the candidate promises something that is not provided in his program – it is the deception, not just sweet promises.
“The main enemy of logic is emotion. The main enemy of emotion is logic. If the presidential candidate makes some very sweet promises, but his program does not include the tools to implement it, then it is a lie, not populism. It is difficult to build a campaign on slogans alone, but it is possible,” the expert stated.
However, the lawyer Dmytro Bohuslavskyi notes that there are no mechanisms at the legislative level that would allow to fight populism, because, in reality, it is impossible to draw a line between the political program and lies.
“It is almost impossible to fight populism at the legislative level, because it is impossible to draw a line between the political program and the outright lies: ‘it is impossible to reduce the price of gas by 100,500 times? I can do it. It is technically impossible? I didn’t know that.’
In addition, it is unclear what sanctions should be used to fight it. Fines? They will say that ‘the hucksters rob the people’s candidate.’ Registration cancellation? It is too much for my taste. The publications on the behalf of CEC stating that the candidate X is a populist? There are enough of them even now. Therefore, I believe that the responsibility for such actions should be political,” the lawyer is sure.
By Dmytro Zhuravel
