By Tetiana SHULHACH, The Day
Last Tuesday the Kyiv oblast court upheld the Ministry of Justice decision
on the illegitimate election of Yuri Kostenko as chairman of the Popular
Movement (Rukh) of Ukraine. The ruling is under the Civil Procedural Code
to come into force ten days after announcement unless appealed. "Of course,
this ruling will be appealed against, so it will not take effect," Oleksandr
Lavrynovych, a Rukh founder, told The Day. In his words, an appeal
to be signed by Mr. Kostenko is now being prepared to be referred to the
Supreme Court of Ukraine. This means both Rukh factions will preserve juridical
uncertainty pending a Supreme Court decision.
According to Mr. Lavrynovych, Rukh's potential candidates for President
will have problems with party registration under such conditions. On May
19, the Central Electoral Commission already denied registration to both
Rukh contenders, Interfax-Ukraine reports. Udovenko aide Vyacheslav Koval
said the former would in any case be registered as the Rukh candidate and
the Commission would be shortly supplied with all necessary documents.
Meanwhile, Kostenko aide Valery Asadchev said that Mr. Kostenko would probably
not insist on being registered as the Rukh contender but as one nominated
by an assembly of citizens.
The Kostenko-led Rukh says, however, that the party is ready to remove
its leader's candidacy from the presidential race and back a candidate
who would suit a number of parties and could shatter the myth of a bipolar
"Kuchma-Left" presidential election. As to Mr. Udovenko, immediately after
nominating him as a potential presidential candidate, most observers agreed
he was a nonviable candidate and it is the President who will really gain
from his nomination, for in the first round Udovenko will be able to take
away votes from other Right and Center candidates.
What happened in the Kyiv court and is happening not only around Rukh
but also around other parties, NDP and the Greens in particular, is called
a "presidential election campaign, where the guarantor of the Constitution
is doing his best to destroy party life," Roman Zvarych (Kostenko's Rukh)
told Interfax-Ukraine.
PS: On May 21 the Central Electoral Commission registered Hennady
Udovenko as the Rukh presidential candidate. The commission refused to
register Yuri Kostenko because he lacked documents on the registration
of his party. The leader of Rukh-2 was registered thanks to meetings of
voters in Rivne and Zhytomyr. "Victimized" Kostenko adherents consider
this a matter of principle in that it casts doubt on the existence of Rukh-2
as an independent political party. "The President of Ukraine is afraid
of the Popular Movement of Ukraine, which has never supported him," says
party stalwart Valery Asadchev. "They will always be able to say that Yuri
Kostenko has nothing to do with Rukh. And when Udovenko falls by the wayside,
his votes will go to the incumbent head of state."






