Extraordinary session
On local elections, district councils, and Turchynov
Last Monday members of parliament cut short their vacations to rescind a discriminatory clause on local party cells. Now all parties, old and new, can take part in the October 31 elections. 264 MPs voted for the amendment moved by Oleksandr Yefremov.
Actually, three bills were put on a vote: those moved by Arsenii Yatseniuk, BYuT’s Lev Biriuk, and the Party of Regions’ Yefremov. Naturally, the government-sponsored one was voted into law, even though Yatseniuk’s and Yefremov’s versions were very similar.
The latest scandalous provisions of the Election Law – on compulsory party membership for mayors and a ban on political blocs – remained unchanged. BYuT huffed and puffed a little, without raising too much hell about this.
In reality, politicians have already managed to adapt to the new law. They found some loopholes. Mayors have already joined the “right” parties. Blocs are out to re-brand their political elements and have already invested a lot of money in this.
The Verkhovna Rada corridors were full of speculations whether Turchynov would be arrested in the fall and whether there would be elections in Kyiv.
The former vice-prime minister and Yulia Tymoshenko’s right hand Oleksandr Turchynov made a public appearance last Monday, as if to say: look, I am not hiding, I am not afraid of repressions.
“You can see how many people have already gone to prison,” he said to journalists in parliament. “Criminal proceedings against the opposition, intimidation, or jails are the last resort of a government that is afraid of its opponents. And when arguments are over, so is the government.”
For the Party of Region’s Vasyl Hrytsak, Turchynov was like a red rag to a bull. “If I had my way, I would put him inside right now. You can record this,” he said.
“And under what Criminal Code article?”
“Under 364 and 365 – ‘Abuse of Power or Office.’ A lot of articles can be applied,” the MP assured The Day’s correspondent.
As for the abolition of district councils, the situation is also unclear. The issue was expected to be put on the agenda, but this did not happen.
As far as The Day knows, there is no unity about this issue in the coalition. The Lytvyn Bloc, under the brand of the People’s Party, has already launched an election campaign in Kyiv. They have already spent money and prepared propaganda materials. Volodymyr Lytvyn himself reassured journalists last week that it was impossible to introduce changes to the Law on the Ca-pital before the election campaign began. (We still know instances when Mr. Lytvyn says one thing but his faction votes quite differently.)
Doubts are also gnawing the Communists. They have assessed that, as the Party of Regions ratings are falling down, they can bite off a morsel of the Kyiv electorate.
Debates are rife within the Party of Regions itself. Naturally, it is risky to take part in the Kyiv elections with a six-percent rating, but the district council issue has assumed nationwide significance. This can also be a safety catch of sorts.
On the other hand, even some BYuT members have cast off the political aspect and admit that district councils is an anachronism.
“There were five district councils in Lviv. It was decided about ten years ago to abolish them as an experiment. The city is working and developing very well,” a BYuT man told The Day.
In a word, it is still an open question whether or not there will be elections in Kyiv. But this will not last too long. Next week parliament will begin to work in a normal mode. Should no decision be made before September 11 (beginning of the election campaign), Kyivites will also go to the polls, while the district council issue will be postponed until better times.
