TIME TO CAST THE TOTAL

By Volodymyr Zolotaryov, The Day

Last week’s atmosphere was determined by the coming elections. The Parliament, President, and Cabinet were closing old files and outlining further tasks. Naturally, every decision they made was politicized. In a final gesture Parliament resolved to strip State Property Fund head Volodymyr Lanovy of his service limousine and office, knowing only too well that nothing would happen. The Procurator General’s Office pressed Verkhovna Rada to allow it to start criminal proceedings in the Pavlo Lazarenko case, fully aware that nothing could be done, one of the reasons being that Parliament was actually closing down.

With the week over it is time to sum up. First, the campaign. On the whole it took a predictable course, still to reach the program competition stage, as predicted. The overall pattern is clear: communists in the lead with the rest bringing up the rear. For the majority exponents success depended largely on funds available and image. With the parties, television publicity played the key role (which means funds and lack of resistance from the authorities). True, this success formula applies to all those lagging behind, since the CPU no longer needed funds or TV campaigning.

It was clear from the outset that the executive would use power structures to get even with its opponents. This is precisely what happened (fortunately not on as large a scale as must have been planned). Naturally, promises of a “war of compromising documents” turned out second rate fiction. Election campaigns tend to reveal heaps of dirty laundry. In this case everything happened as a result of clashes between those currently in office and opposition Add here clannish shoot-outs (like the feudal hostilities in Odesa), having little if anything to do with inter-party competition. Strange as it may seem, this campaign leaves one with a feeling of satisfaction, probably because it could be predicted in this unpredictable country.

Another reason to sum up is the completion of the present Verkhovna Rada convocation. This is neither time nor place to list the bills passed and voted down by Parliament. Another thing seems more important. The legislature has by and large emerged victorious from its confrontation with the executive. Confrontation, it should be noted, is a term used very loosely in this context, because confrontation implies that the sides have clearly set goals. No such goals can exist in Parliament, considering its motley character and strong undercurrents (our political system is such that there is no sense in even discussing the interests of the parliamentary majority). Hard as the executive tried to make this confrontation look ideological, it was not. Rather, it was kept in the vein of respect/disrespect of the law, legitimate procedures, and “revolutionary expediency.” Of course, the People’s Deputies were on the right side of the law, not by conviction but simply because they had no alternative. They could not abuse their office because they were the ones setting the rules of the game. But all this is not important. The important thing is that the law has scored a moral victory.