The Secret of No. 5
On January 11, the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (United), SDPU(o), made public the top ten on its party ticket, minus the still-vacant number five. The list was presented by the party leader Viktor Medvedchuk as he was opening his party’s press club. According to the party leader, the secret of the one who closes the top five will be revealed after the SDPU(o) politburo meeting to be held on Monday. Mr. Medvedchuk hinted it was not ruled out that the number five person will be a woman.
So the top five on the SDPU(o) election list are Viktor Medvedchuk, Leonid Kravchuk, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Volodymyr Riabik (leader of the bloc Ukrainian Youth for SDPU(o), the former Bloc of Ukrainian Youth — Ed.). The next five on the SDPU(o) list are represented by Minister for Education and Research, Vasyl Kremin; leaders of SDPU(o)’s three regional organizations — Ivan Rizak from Transcarpathia, Mykhailo Papiyev from Chernivtsi, and Volodymyr Shepetin from Kharkiv; along with people’s deputy and chairman of the Verkhovna Rada National Security and Defense Committee, Borys Andresiuk. As was reported before, the eleventh place is occupied by People’s Deputy Hryhory Surkis and the twelfth by Ihor Pluzhnykov, deputy chairman and politburo member of the party.
The first pilot session of the SDPU(o) press club came off in a very unrestrained key and became a notable mass media event, judging by the number of journalists present. In an especially good shape was Ukraine’s first President Leonid Kravchuk whose witty jokes would cause, every now and then, bursts of laughter in the audience.
The people’s deputy also made some stinging remarks, for example, that the Verkhovna Rada of this convocation should close down. “Verkhovna Rada must fold up and not indulge in political buffoonery under the guidance of its leaders who are not only unable to stop this buffoonery but also contribute to further lawlessness,” he said. Mr. Kravchuk also recalled that People’s Deputy Taras Chornovil had suggested setting up a parliamentary commission to investigate allegedly illegal arms trading. “We have all the documents showing that Ukraine traded arms in accordance with the law,” the first president of Ukraine emphasized. According to Mr. Kravchuk, as arms trade brings Ukraine an annual $500 million, this country “came under fire, because a rival should be kicked out... I don’t want Ukraine to shudder every Thursday (the day of voting — Ed.),” he said.
The party leaders promised to regularly invite journalists to the press club and answer honestly and openly all the questions that may be of interest for the mass media. In the words of Mr. Medvedchuk, admission to the press club is free for all those who can confirm in any way their belonging to the Ukrainian mass media, while Heorhy Kuzmin, in charge of the brand- new news room, promised that media people will be able to hear within these walls what they will never hear at any other press conferences. Mr. Zinchenko, leader of the SDPU(o) fraction in parliament, also blessed the newborn, saying that, in his opinion, the press club’s principal task is to explain to voters every step of the united Social Democrats in order to ensure “openness, transparency, and clarity of the party program concept.”
