Divided Orange Revolution team at loggerheads over coalition
Pressure today grew on Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to revive the divided Orange Revolution team as election returns showed combined support for their pro-Western reformist parties outpacing that of the pro-Russian opposition leader.
Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of the Regions held onto its lead of 29.6% of the vote, with more than 60% of ballots counted.
Trailing close behind was the party of the Orange Revolution’s heroine, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, with a strong showing of 22.5%, significantly ahead of her one-time partner Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine party, which had 15.6%.
The Socialist Party, which backed the Orange Revolution and served in Yushchenko’s government, was in fourth place with 6.3% of the vote, followed by the Communists with 3.5%. No other parties had made it over the 3% barrier, early election results showed.
Yushchenko – still smarting from his party’s humiliating third-place finish - planned to hold consultations with his former Orange allies and Yanukovych’s bloc today.
The talks were coming amid strong public pressure from Tymoshenko to move quickly to reunite the Orange team, calling such an approach the only way to preserve the democratic and pro-Western ideals that formed the basis of the 2004 election protest triggered by Yanukovych’s ballot-stuffing attempt to win the presidency.
Yushchenko’s job was not at stake, but the newly elected parliament will enjoy vast new powers under reforms that give it the right to name – and dismiss – the prime minister and much of the Cabinet.
Since no one party won an outright majority in the 450-seat chamber, the parties will have to hammer out a coalition to form the government.
Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz was quoted as saying he had already signed an agreement to continue his partnership with Yushchenko’s party, adding talks were also underway with Tymoshenko. Asked what the future coalition would look like, he answered the Unian news agency with one word: “Orange”.
A reunion of Orange forces could be personally unpalatable for Yushchenko, who had a bitter falling-out with Tymoshenko last year, but analysts said it was the only way for him to preserve his support base in Western Ukraine, which election results suggest is defecting to the blond-braided Tymoshenko.
A revived Orange team would frustrate Yanukovych’s efforts to return to power, but as expected head of the biggest parliamentary faction, the pro-Russian leader could still play a key role in shaping Ukrainian politics.
“The chances of an Orange coalition are pretty good. The momentum is moving in that direction,” said Ivan Lozowy, president of the Kiev-based Institute of Statehood and Democracy. “It would just be ridiculous if Our Ukraine teamed up with Yanukovych’s huge monster of a party. It’s such an incongruous picture.”
Tymoshenko took a tough stance before today’s planned talks, saying that her party also demanded to take charge of at least one law-enforcement agency and continue its push for reviewing privatisation deals that violated the law.
Her pledge to review 3,000 privatisation deals shook business confidence and helped fuel the political infighting that led to her dismissal.
Yushchenko put Prime Minister Yuri Yekhanurov in charge of coalition talks – a clear signal that the president was not ready to accept Tymoshenko’s conditions, since Yekhanurov wants to keep his job.
Yushchenko, who retains the right to set the nation’s foreign policy and appoint the foreign and defence ministers, pledged that Ukraine would continue on its West-leaning path.
Yanukovych, who is supported by the industrial magnates of eastern Ukraine, has called for closer ties with Moscow and an end to Kiev’s bid to join Nato, but he supports European Union membership.
