Ukraine Attracting Shady Candidates

[NNN0LHI]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UKRAINE_SHADY_CANDIDATES?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Thirty-seven are under criminal investigation. Forty-one await trial. All are candidates in Ukraine's March 26 parliamentary elections.

The collection of shady characters on the ballot suggests little has changed in this ex-Soviet republic despite the high hopes and lofty promises of the 2004 Orange Revolution, when hundreds of thousands rallied under the slogan "Criminals in Jail."

"If you steal a hen or sack of grain from your neighbor, you go to jail, but if you steal a million you end up in parliament," said Volodymyr Stretovych, who heads the parliamentary committee against organized crime. snip

The practice of seeking immunity from prosecution by taking up a parliamentary seat had become so standard in post-Soviet Ukraine that most people didn't pay attention. But that changed after the Orange Revolution protests that swept President Viktor Yushchenko to power on promises to clean up dirty politics.

[joeybee12]

1. Hey, I'm in the Ukraine right now!

People are very disillusioned by Yushchenko. There's a flyer of him dressed up as an old woman--a babushka--that reads "The Future of Urkaine."