United Social Democrats: We Are Not an Olympic Party

“We need only victory in the 2002 parliamentary elections,” SDPU(o) leader Viktor Medvedchuk said addressing a session of the party’s political council. According to Mr. Medvedchuk, in the forthcoming elections to Verkhovna Rada the SDPU(o) is not going to abide by the Olympic principle under which it is the participation and not the final result that really counts. The party’s experts believe that, in view of the present alignment of political forces in Ukraine’s legislature, the country might be in for elections under the proportional representation system, UNIAN report says, citing an SDPU(o) press service release. “In the meantime, we are going to prepare for parliamentary elections regardless of the system under which the elections will be held, proportional or mixed,” Mr. Medvedchuk declared. To score a convincing victory, the United Social Democrats will change their party infrastructure in Ukraine’s regions by the fall of next year, the time when, in Mr. Medvedchuk’s view, the election campaign will begin.

Speaking on the report submitted by the ad hoc commission chaired by Yevhen Marchuk which analyzed the situation in Ukraine’s fuel/energy sector, Mr. Medvedchuk stressed that the report gives a true picture of what is going on in this vital realm and “dispels any government myths about positive changes in this sphere.”