Ukraine Attracting Shady Candidates

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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.

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."