Reform calls for sacrifices

After the parliamentary elections Ukraine will undergo a long process of electing the Verkhovna Rada’s leadership and forming a parliamentary coalition and government. As a result, the parliamentary speaker may be elected no earlier than mid-April and the Cabinet of Ministers might be formed only in mid-July. This statement was made during a press conference last Saturday by ex-Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk, leader of the “Yevhen Marchuk-Unity” bloc, prior to the beginning of the 4th Convention of the All-Ukraine Association of Local Council Members. “The structure of parliament may be unpredicted, which may actually slow down the process of forming the coalition and warrant the dissolution of parliament,” explained the bloc leader, adding, “This is a distinct possibility, although no one wants this to happen. But life prophesies this and shows that this is indeed possible.” At the same time, Marchuk ruled out the possibility of the president’s resignation because of impeachment. He does not see any grounds for a situation in which “the matter of impeachment could be raised.” The bloc leader believes that President Yushchenko will remain in office and “do his best to secure stability in the country.”

In fact, the convention of local councils’ members was dedicated to resolving this very question: how to ensure stability in Ukraine. Elections to local councils on a proportional basis “pose the threat of serious social conflicts in Ukraine,” declared the leader of the association of local council members Volodymyr Yalovy, in his speech to the delegates. To this end, he noted, the association supports the idea of returning to the majority system of local elections (the convention voted to send a proposal in this matter to the president and parliament). “Today the changes to the constitution that were discussed are not being implemented, and the coming elections violate constitutional clauses that state that the citizens of Ukraine have the right to elect and be elected. Today, a citizen has the right to be elected only when s/he is on the slate of a political party,” stressed Yalovy, who is also the leader of the “Unity” party, a member of the Marchuk bloc. He believes that proportional elections also contradict the European Charter of Local Self-Government whereby changes to the electoral system must be discussed in a nationwide referendum. “The situation that has developed may result in a situation in which power wielded by financial and oligarchic clans will be closed through party structures, most of which are already controlled or financed by oligarchic clans,” he said.

Yalovy also noted that the All-Ukraine Association of Local Council Members is concerned about the bill on constitutional changes (3207- 1) on reforms to local self-government. The convention has issued a proposal calling for the “immediate resumption of the functioning of the Constitutional Court,” so that it can determine the constitutionality of the bill. Bill 3207, on changes to the Fundamental Law with regard to local self-government, was approved last December and was submitted to the Constitutional Court for expert examination on Dec. 2.

Besides the leaders of the “Yevhen Marchuk-Unity” bloc, the presidium included Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz, who, as he explained to journalists, came to the convention in order to encourage local deputies to support the changes to the constitution that are currently being studied by the Constitutional Court. But Moroz is convinced that the political reform is irreversible. “All talk about the need to revise the political reform, to return to public opinion, to take it into consideration, and so on, is nothing but hypocrisy, even if all these statements are coming from the president. By signing the documents, he is setting in motion things he has actually opposed in the last several years. Therefore, I would like to reassure everyone: there will be no revision of the political reform,” declared the socialist leader. He also opined that the draft of the bill on changes to the constitution (3207-1), which is aimed at upgrading local self-government, meets the requirements of the Fundamental Law and that the Constitution Court will hand down an appropriate ruling after the elections.