• Українська
  • Русский
  • English
Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

DOES THE PRESIDENT HAVE SOMETHING TO HIDE?

20 July, 1999 - 00:00

Leonid Kuchma verifies constitutionality of Parliament's Election Monitoring
Commission

By Volodymyr ZOLOTARIOV, The Day
The President has submitted to the Constitutional Court a request to rule
on the constitutionality of a Verkhovna Rada resolution to set up a provisional
select commission to inquire whether public administration and local government
bodies, their officials, and the Central Election Commission observe election
law provisions in during the campaign and presidential elections, Interfax-Ukraine
reports.

Leonid Kuchma draws the attention of People's Deputies to the fact that
the activity of such commissions is still not regulated legislatively as
required by the Constitution. The President also thinks the Verkhovna Rada
resolution setting up the select commission is unconstitutional. The resolution
contains recommendations that the President fire Internal Affairs Minister
Yuri Kravchenko and Security Service head Leonid Derkach.

The President also points out that neither Ukraine's Constitution nor
laws authorize Parliament and the bodies it sets up to oversee the preparation
and conduct of presidential elections.

Of course, the founding fathers set themselves up, in a way, by writing
a phrase in the Constitution that "the organization and procedure of standing
committees and provisional select commissions shall be determined by law,"
which gives the President formal grounds to file claims on the Yeliashkevych
commission. On the other hand, those parliamentary committees and, after
all, the Presidential Administration, work quite well without any special
legislation. If the President were guided by considerations of principle,
he should have included in his submitted request another two dozen or so
institutions to be covered by special, and not yet passed, laws.

Moreover, special laws are required for governmental institutions whose
activities need legal interpretation. For example, both the Administration
and Cabinet of Ministers often perform virtually the same functions, and
a law would seem necessary here to delimit their respective powers. Unlike
them, a parliamentary commission is not a government institution. Its conclusions
are of only political significance, and Article 89 even says specially
that "the conclusions and proposals of select commissions shall not be
decisive during investigation and trial."

Another presidential argument, that parliamentary is "supervising" the
elections, is simply illiterate, for nobody in Parliament is raising the
question of supervision. Under the same Article 89, parliamentary commissions
are set up "to inquire into matters of public interest," and presidential
elections are undoubtedly such a "matter," especially given the numerous
abuses only the blind cannot see.

And finally, Mr. Kuchma's reaction to the legislators' recommendation
to dismiss Mr. Derkach and Mr. Kravchenko is nothing but resentment. I
stress that Parliament only suggested that Mr. Kuchma fire the ministers.
Parliament could make a decision like this at any time with respect to
any other officials even without the Yeliashkevych select commission. Again,
this resolution has no juridical force and is a political document, which
puts it outside the criteria of constitutionality. Hence, there is only
one motive left which might explain the President's sudden request: Mr.
Kuchma has something to hide during the elections. It is only possible
to explain the action, so much tarnishing the image of the head of state
in the election campaign, by a lack of coordination between numerous headquarters
(it would hardly occur to any highly skilled image-maker to advise his
patron to make such overtly controversial decisions) or by Mr. Kuchma's
ignoring the existence of these headquarters. Both make yet another argument
against Mr. Kuchma getting a second term.

 

Rubric: