Kaniv Four Has Not Fallen Apart, Founders Remain Allies

The Kaniv Four reached agreement thanks to Leonid Kuchma. It seems the acting President can be of use after all. It happened as soon as the number one candidate assured Ukraine in his televised appearance that the four would never come to terms. That was how the Political Agreement was born. Through hard labor, yes, and the new document is evidence not so much of the four having chosen the golden mean as of their being fully aware of the realities of the presidential race.

The four candidates arrived at a decision in keeping with the Kaniv accords. First, Oleksandr Tkachenko and Volodymyr Oliynyk will back Oleksandr Moroz. Second, Yevhen Marchuk will run independently. Third, the Kaniv Four will continue to cooperate and finally decide on a single candidate within the time limit prescribed by the presidential election law.

At a news conference in Simferopol this August, Yevhen Marchuk did not rule out the possibility of the Four becoming Two or Three, stressing (as he does now) that this could be a transformation within the Four, not a split. Since an alliance was the only way to reach the ultimate goal: “Anyone but Kuchma,” because the task now is to save the Ukrainian body politic and democracy. In view of this ultimate goal, talks between the Four and intransigent Communist leader Petro Symonenko could end in an understanding, considering that under the circumstances Petro Symonenko and one of the Four could run in the first round, and this would be quite fair.

It is also possible that people on Bankova Street will have another headache counting on “unanimous affection” for Leonid Kuchma in the Ukrainian West where he would be the only contender in the absence of Yevhen Marchuk. At present, this alternative is getting increasingly questionable, although it is possible that Marchuk and Moroz will create additional problems for their “mixed” electorates in the central and part of the southern territories when it comes time to cast the ballots.

However, it should be admitted that the Kaniv Four had no right to risk staking on a single candidate so prematurely. At a time when hand grenades are hurled, exploding near the wrong persons, there is a fair chance that the real hit will be finally made, either figuratively or literally, using the official media or unofficial guns. Yevhen Marchuk has made public a strange incident when his car, taking a bend, rode over a tire barrier that was planted quite professionally, piercing two tires...

The regime is fighting for its life in its last throes with no holds barred. The fact that the Kaniv Four is still in the field, warding off blows and maneuvers despite excruciating pressure from the government machine with its many media and law enforcement claws, that it is still on course, headed for its set goal, gives one hope: Ukraine is not doomed to complete catastrophe.