Ukraine leaders sign unity accord
President Viktor Yushchenko signed a memorandum of national unity today with his former Orange Revolution foe, Viktor Yanukovych – a pact the president hopes will secure his pro-Western, reformist policies when his ex-foe becomes prime minister.
The accord had been Yushchenko’s condition for approving Yanukovych’s candidacy, and a parliamentary vote – a mere formality – was expected later today.
Yushchenko acknowledged that his decision to nominate the man he once roundly denounced could cause misunderstanding and dismay, but he called it a historic chance to mend the country’s deep divisions after months of political paralysis.
“When we take steps towards each other, it is very important not to count who is making one or two steps more, who is the winner and who is the loser,” Yanukovych said before signing the accord.
The accord’s 27 points call for Ukraine to continue to seek European Union membership, entry into the Word Trade Organisation, and co-operation with Nato; the new version also mentions that Ukraine should consider joining a Russia-promoted economic trade zone, which also will include the ex-Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Belarus.
It acknowledges that Ukrainian is the state language, but drops the word “only” in front of that designation – an apparent bow to Yanukovych’s Russian-speaking electorate.
Yushchenko’s decision to nominate Yanukovych followed four months of wrangling after parliamentary elections gave no party a majority of seats. The country fell into political paralysis as parties argued, manoeuvred and shifted alliances to form a majority coalition.
In the end, Yanukovych’s Party of Regions – which won the biggest chunk of seats in the March parliament elections – formed a coalition with the Socialists, who had defected from an earlier coalition that included Yushchenko’s bloc, and the Communists.
The new coalition nominated Yanukovych to be premier, the post he had held when he ran against Yushchenko.
Yushchenko announced that he would nominate Yanukovych at around 2am local time today – two hours after the constitutional deadline for him to make a decision had expired.
Yulia Tymoshenko, who would have become prime minister if the former Orange coalition had not fallen apart, said the accord should be called “an act of political capitulation by the Orange camp.” During a roundtable meeting in Yushchenko’s office televised live today, Tymoshenko blasted the agreement as a betrayal.
Yushchenko, looking frustrated, interrupted and criticised his one-time partner for “empty politics” that were all words and no action.
It was expected that Yushchenko’s party would use the agreement as a justification to join the coalition led by Yanukovych, and Yushchenko praised it as a major achievement.
“It was not a simple path,” Yushchenko said. “A great progress was achieved. ... We found a correct, wise compromise.”
His bloc, however, has not yet given a firm answer about whether it plans to join the new coalition, and some of the president’s lawmakers have said they would not join a coalition government led by Yanukovych. Critics have also noted that the accord is not legally binding.
“There is a risk that it could just become a document of intentions that leads nowhere,” said Kiev-based political analyst Serhiy Taran.
The decision to name Yanukovych as premier marks a stunning comeback for the man who left politics in disgrace after Ukraine’s Supreme Court threw out his fraud-marred presidential win in 2004 and Yushchenko won the court-ordered revote.
Yanukovych bounced back in the March election, adopting Western-style campaign tactics as he spent countless months in get-out-the-vote rallies in eastern and southern Ukraine.
