Moldova Without Kuchma
Before parliamentary election results in Moldova hit the headlines, the plan for creating a parliamentary republic in Ukraine was viewed hypothetically, being one of the proposals by the opposition. Incidentally, it was the only reasonable alternative to the question asked by the opposition: who will come after Kuchma? Not who, but what? A parliamentary republic was the answer.
In Moldova they know for sure now what the color of their republic’s banners will be.
Red.
Quite naturally, the initiators of the parliamentary republic in Moldova had absolutely different goals: to curb presidential authority and create a full- fledged democracy. I recall my last year’s discussion at the World Democratic Forum in Warsaw with my old friend from Chi ь sin я au and a staunch opponent of President Petru Lucinschi. “We can’t permit him to be reelected to office for another term! He’s politically bankrupt,” he retorted hotly answering my remark on the likelihood of the Ukrainian presidential election scenario being repeated in Moldova. Several weeks later I received a triumphal letter: no Ukrainian scenario! The parliamentary republic! The end for Lucinschi!
On Monday I phoned Chi ь sin я au . “How are things, friend?” I asked. “Looks like no more Lucinschi.”
“You know, I’m getting a Romanian passport,” came the answer.
These remarks are not aimed at declaring our weary “guarantor of the Constitution” Leonid Kuchma a guarantor against the Communist threat. It is merely that the opposition should be sufficiently responsible and far- sighted to predict the possible outcome of its proposals. The Moldovan Right had a chance to make a deal with President Lucinschi to neutralize the Communists or a deal with the Communists when they were in the minority to neutralize President Lucinschi. They thought it better to sacrifice Moldova to the Communists. Not for long, hopefully, but the years of harsh testing that the future has in store for the Moldovans could be hard. Betrayed and misinformed by their own politicians, the Moldovans will be left to Comrade Voronin to be handled, while the politicians themselves will go teach in Moscow or Bucharest. Indeed, could these disillusioned and beggarly people be blamed for voting like they did?
What will we, advocates of democracy, the market economy, integration into Europe and other “bourgeois” values, say, if our own fatigued electorate votes in a similar way once Ukraine becomes a parliamentary republic? Do voters seem to have any other options? A Moldovan scenario could well be repeated in Ukraine, with a paralyzed government providing fertile soil for a Red comeback, while the opposition with the best of intentions will put everything on a legal footing. Given this scenario, the new Solons might elect Comrade Symonenko as their speaker and Premier Comrade Tkachenko sally to Moscow to beg for admittance to the Russian-Belarus-Moldovan union. Clearly, that would be the end for Kuchma and the oligarchs, as Comrade Symonenko is a renown fighter against oligarchs and a die-hard opponent of President Kuchma. It would also spell the end for corruption, since Comrade Tkachenko is such a renowned fighter against corruption.
And it would also spell the end for Ukraine.
