The politician of December is O. Moroz. This is the outcome of a polling of experts political analysts, specialists of non-governmental research organizations, and journalists conducted December 25-26 by the Center for Political Analysis and Consulting. 21 experts mentioned 18 names of politicians (in November, 14, and in September, 31). For the first time ever, there have been mentioned the names of S.═ Tyhipko, the Labor Ukraine party leader, Justice party leader I. Chyzh, people▓s deputy O. Zhyr, and V. Chemerys, the leader of the protest action on the Nezalezhnosti (Independence) square in connection with the publication of talks tape-recorded in the office of Ukraine▓s President.═

Experts named V. Yushchenko the politician of the year. All in all, 5 candidates were mentioned, but the Prime-Minister received a half of the experts▓ votes.═

Obviously, the focus of public attention was on political passions at the Supreme Rada (Ukraine▓s Parliament) around audio and video cassettes (the so-called ⌠audiotapegate■). People▓s deputies S. Holovaty, O. Zhyr, and V. Shyshkin brought, in their opinion and the opinion of all those who trust to O. Moroz, the corroboration of the existence of officer of the State Information Protection Service M. Melnychenko, as wells as the fact that he did actually record some talks of top state officials. Their political opponents right away began to speak about the devilish sophistication of the masters of secret operations and provocations, picturing many Ukrainian politicians as poor puppets in the hands of highly experienced foreign ⌠puppeteers■, merciless to the destiny of Ukraine. The confrontation of two rallies under the walls of the Supreme Rada has shown that not only Ukraine▓s elites but also our society are divided in their judgments of what has been going on. In the last ten days of December most of the printed mass media carried the ⌠letters of working-people■ in favor of Ukraine▓s President L. Kuchma. Some electronic mass media show small groups of its opponents rallied in front of the buildings of regional and district public administrations: their abiding presence there is prevented by the imminently impending holidays.═

And all this ⌠because of■ O. Moroz. In the opinion of our experts, his speeches and actions evoked the greatest public response, which was exactly what resulted in his highest place in ratings as well as the higher index. His name was mentioned in the lists of 18 experts, with 12 of them putting him in the first place. For the first time ever, S. Holovaty, the headman of the above-mentioned three people▓s deputies, who were subjected to a humiliating search at the Boryspil airport after they had recorded M. Melnychenko▓s testimonies, has risen up so high in our rating. Unnoticed also passed his rather convincing behavior in a live program of the ICTV company.═

President L. Kuchma was also active in December: the meetings with three presidents of neighboring countries, the shutdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant complex, the meetings with people in national disaster areas┘ His rating has practically not changed, as compared with November. This is not true of Premier V. Yushchenko and Vice-Premier Yu. Tymoshenko. In December, the level of their actions▓ publicity was noticeably lower, which has been noted by our experts.═

The Publicity Index of Politicians▓ Speeches and Practical Actions in December 2000.* (The indexes have been determined only for those who have been mentioned by two or more experts).═

The question to the experts: ⌠Please, name not more than three politicians (people▓s deputies, members of Government, state officials, public figures and leaders of parties) whose speeches and practical actions in December noticeably affected the course of social and political developments. In this sense, whom would you name the politician of the month?■

* The publicity index of speeches and practical actions of politicians is the result of dividing the sum total of their points, given to politicians by experts, by the total number of experts who took part in the polling. The ones whose speeches or actions received the greatest social publicity, are given 1 point, those who mentioned next to them, 0.5. In other words, the maximum value of the index can be 1 (all the experts were unanimous in identifying him/her as the politician of the month). The closer the value is to 1, the more frequently a politician was mentioned and the more frequently s/he was named the politician of the month.

All the Politicians of December Mentioned by Our Experts:

* the politician also mentioned by our experts in November

The question to the experts: ⌠Whose speeches and practical actions during the year 2000 received resonant social response or noticeably influenced the course of social and political developments? In this sense, whom would you name the politician of the year?■ No = 21