Hopes For a Majority

“Ukraine needs political stability as never before,” President Leonid Kuchma said last Friday, addressing the workforce unit of the Novomoskovsk Pipe Rolling Mill. He also characterized the two past years in Ukraine as “the hardest time in our history,” Interfax-Ukraine reports. In Mr. Kuchma’s opinion, “The ten years of independence have so exhausted us that if we continue to live in this mode, our future will be bleak.” He noted that political stability rests not only on work collectives. “The main thing is that those on top must show they know which way to lead the country,” he underscored. Mr. Kuchma hopes the new Ukrainian parliament will form a majority which, together with the government and him, will assume responsibility for this country’s future. Should this not happen, Ukraine “will still remain in the condition it has been in for the past ten years.”