Ukraine's president faces tough choice
Ukraine’s pro-Russian parliamentary majority warned President Viktor Yushchenko today against dissolving parliament and calling new elections, threatening that the move could trigger a battle for power in this ex-Soviet republic.
The threats came after another round of marathon talks overnight apparently failed to dislodge differences between Yushchenko and the new coalition, which wants to put the president’s Orange Revolution arch foe in the prime minister’s seat.
Yushchenko faces a Constitutional deadline at midnight tonight to decide what to do about Viktor Yanukovych’s nomination. Yushchenko must either agree to the embarrassing prospect of governing jointly with the man whose fraud-riddled grab for the presidency in 2004 sparked the Orange Revolution, or prolong the political uncertainty that has seized this ex-Soviet republic since March’s indecisive parliamentary election.
Initially, the three parties that were key to the Orange Revolution – the massive protests against vote fraud – pooled their seats and formed a majority coalition. However, the Socialists defected last month and teamed up with Yanukovych’s party of eastern Ukrainian industrialists and the Communists.
The new coalition has made overtures to Yushchenko’s bloc to join – but has rebuffed Our Ukraine’s requests that the Communists be dumped and Yanukovych swapped for a choice more palatable to the president.
Dozens of supporters of the youth group Pora, which is demanding new elections to keep Yanukovych from power, gathered today near the president’s office, outnumbered by police.
Meanwhile, thousands of supporters of Yanukovych’s party also kept up their vigil near parliament.
Volodymyr Syvkovych, a politician from Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, warned that if Yushchenko dissolves parliament, “it will mean a state coup and the usurpation of power.”
Under the Constitution, Yushchenko gained the right to dissolve parliament because the new coalition failed to form a government within 60 days; the coalition argued, however, that it only missed the deadline because Yushchenko has stalled in returning Yanukovych’s candidacy.
Communist politician Ihor Alekseyev warned that if Yushchenko tries to dissolve parliament, lawmakers would refuse to recognise the move. “Before anyone could elect a new parliament, they’d be electing a new president who could run this country,” he warned.
Ukraine’s Constitutional Court lacks a quorum because of parliament’s refusal to swear in the judges, which means that this ex-Soviet republic currently has no body that could rule if a power dispute arises.
In a bid to find a way out of the crisis, Yushchenko appears to have staked his hope on a so-called unity agreement with Yanukovych, seen as a way to ensure that Yushchenko’s pro-Western and reformist policies continue, even under a Yanukovych government.
Wrangling such an agreement from Yanukovych could also pave the way for Yushchenko’s political bloc, Our Ukraine, to join the new coalition.
But talks on co-operation have hit one road block after another, with the Party of Regions accusing Yushchenko of trying to force them to disavow their election promises: opposition to Nato membership, calling for closer ties with Russia and promoting Russian as a second state language.
Party of Regions officials said the overnight talks failed to make any significant progress.
