Viktor YUSHCHENKO: “The elections will definitely take place”
In the past few days President Viktor Yushchenko must have been brimming with things to say. Opening his quarterly press conference, he delivered a 40-minute speech with this opening line: “I would like to declare: no tragedy has occurred in Ukraine-Ukraine is proceeding along the path of democracy.” Then he gave an account of the events of April 2, the day he signed the edict dissolving parliament. As it was later learned, after the official negotiations the president spoke with Oleksandr Moroz on several occasions.
Yushchenko confirmed once again that he has no intentions of canceling his decree. However, later he added that he would abide by any ruling of the Constitutional Court. Other messages followed.
THE PRESIDENT WILL ABIDE BY THE RULING OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
“I will abide by any ruling of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court,” said Yushchenko, responding to a journalist’s question about whether he would obey a negative ruling of the court. Yushchenko stressed again: “I am a democrat and respect the law, but I am worried by the situation surrounding the Constitutional Court.” Addressing the court’s judges, the president said: “Your decision is a matter of principle not for the two Viktors but for 48 million Ukrainians.” He called on the judges to “show courage.”
TERMS MAY BE SUBJECT TO NEGOTIATION
“Early elections are a purgatory through which all the political forces have to pass,” said the president. He did not rule out the possibility of rescheduling elections from May 27 to a later date with the aim of improving the organization of the election campaign. “The Constitution allows only a 60-day period within which the president can schedule new elections. I had no other right. I could not violate this. But I know something else: in some aspects of organizing elections...there are many things that require reasonable scheduling...We need to find a compromise. If there is a desire to resolve this conflict by political means, there is an abundance of opportunities,” Yushchenko emphasized.
“LET’S SEPARATE THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF”
President Yushchenko believes that all the talk of possible early presidential elections is blackmail, and warns: “I am not giving in to any kind of blackmail.” He said that the Constitution envisages several reasons for holding early presidential elections. He listed them and gave the audience to understand that not one of these reasons is applicable in the current situation. “Let us separate the wheat from the chaff,” he proposed.
THE OPPOSITION MUST RETURN TO THE VERKHOVNA RADA
The president called for the parliamentary groups to launch negotiations whose main goal is to convince the opposition to return to the Verkhovna Rada. “It is necessary for the 200 MPs to return to the session room,” Yushchenko said, noting that parliament has to work at its full capacity.
NO USE OF FORCE
The Ukrainian military forces have not been given any orders to be combat-ready.
“The army is outside of politics...There will no use of force,” stated Yushchenko. The president also said he has instructed defense minister Anatolii Hrytsenko to give MPs access to closed military units for examination. This is to pacify overanxious MPs.
THE OUR UKRAINE PARTY SHOULD HAVE PEOPLE WHO ENJOY ENTHUSIASTIC POPULAR SUPPORT
The president is convinced that Our Ukraine needs an infusion of new blood. “I am certain that the party has to be radically renewed,” he said. According to the president, the party should have individuals who enjoy enthusiastic popular support.
N.B. Not so long ago Yushchenko was referred to as “a weak president.” In the past two weeks we have seen a totally different person- resolute and strong-willed, capable of maneuvering and intrigue, and able to stand his ground. Now the president is calling a spade a spade, in a straightforward fashion and without flowery verbiage. Our special thanks for this new president go to Viktor Yanukovych and Oleksandr Moroz.
REACTION
The Party of Regions interpreted Yushchenko’s call to go through “the purgatory of popular elections” as his consent to hold early presidential elections.
According to Party of Region’s MP Hanna Herman, these words imply that Yushchenko has already resigned himself to the prospect of holding early parliamentary and presidential elections simultaneously.
The Party of Regions’ press service quotes Herman as saying: “This phrase may signify that subconsciously Viktor Yushchenko is already prepared to accept the prospect of holding simultaneous early parliamentary and presidential elections. In answering the president’s statement that once again we need to go through the “purgatory of popular elections,” we are ready to reply with the words: “Yes, together with you, Mr. Yushchenko.”
EXPERT OPINIONS
“It is impossible to hold the elections under the current circumstances. Those who propose to hold them right now are dooming them to illegitimacy. The question now is not whether to reschedule them or not, but how and according to which scenario they should be held. To turn a blind eye to this, ignore all emerging problems, and simply keep moving closer to May 27 means to condemn these elections to illegitimacy,” says Andrii YERMOLAEV, head of the Sofia Social Research Center. In his opinion, it would be best to defer the elections to September or October 2007, but his general attitude is that it would be politically unconstructive to hold parliamentary elections this year.
Vadym KARASIOV, director of the Institute of Global Strategies, doubts the Constitutional Court’s ability to settle the election row. “I don’t believe that the Constitutional Court will issue any ruling. It cannot, even in principle. The Court will most likely be paralyzed. Judges’ complaints of pressure make the [future] ruling dubious from the very outset. The crisis has a political and legal nature, while the Constitutional Court is only capable of issuing purely legal rulings. A purely legal solution will not satisfy either side,” he concluded. Karasiov believes that it is still possible to hold the elections on May 27 provided the opposition mounts an active and coordinated effort. Then the coalition parties will also join the election campaign.
