Head of UGCC Explains His Call to Not Vote “Against All” in Second Round of Presidential Election

KYIV — In an interview to the Glavred magazine, which is to be published on February 8, 2010, Patriarch Lubomyr, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), commented on the UGCC’s position on the second round of the presidential elections, especially, his previous call to citizens to participate in the elections and not to vote against all.  “As for the option of ‘not supporting any candidate,’ I saw the necessity to draw attention to the danger connected with such voting, but not to order someone or prohibit something – I have no such right,” stressed the patriarch.

According to the press service of the UGCC , in the interview, the hierarch explained the grounds for such a position. “We have gone through the first round where there were 18 candidates and each citizen of a sober mind and conscious of his duty voted for someone.  Out of the 18 people, two have the highest rating and according to our law, we have to take the next step and choose the better of them. We have to be consistent, if we have elections, we are to choose,” noted the hierarch

According to Patriarch Lubomyr, by voting against all we give away our right to choose the president to others. “We do not have two angels before us, but we must choose, choose consciously and maturely,” he explained. The hierarch also refuted accusations that this position makes him a supporter of one of the candidates. “I was for having the majority of the citizens ready and planning choose one of the two. This does not eliminate the formal right of individual people to vote ‘against all’ but this excludes them from the process of election,” he stressed.