Ukraine's Election and Corruption

Ukraine is preparing for parliamentary elections Mar. 26 amid political chaos and divisions, but little has been delivered so far on one of the main promises of last years' elections: to eradicate corruption.

The ballot will not only elect a new prime minister, it will complete the constitutional reform to a more parliamentary democracy.

Widespread poverty is the principal difficulty this country of 48 million faces. A worrying economic performance is taking prevalence in people's minds. They partly blame it on gas price hikes by Russia, but corruption remains a visible, largely unaddressed factor advancing poverty.

Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index for 2005 placed Ukraine in a worrying 107th place, along with Vietnam and Zimbabwe, accounting for one of the worst positions in Europe, second only to Russia.

With the current government facing the distrust of many voters who had previously supported it, surveys confirm that a large part of their disillusionment is due to a lack of tangible progress in the fight against corruption.

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I'm dubious of some of the comments at the end of the article. ugh.