Will it be the sign for national democrats to unite?
It was officially announced at a parliamentary press conference on September 13 that Oleksandr Lavrynovych was joining (or, according to Hennady Udovenko, returning to) the Popular Movement (Rukh) of Ukraine (NRU led by Mr. Udovenko) faction.
As Mr. Udovenko noted, the presence of such people as Mr. Lavrynovych, who enjoys great respect in the political establishment, will reinforce the party’s intellectual potential. In his turn, Mr. Lavrynovych stressed repeatedly that after long reflection he understood that he should continue in national politics, which is possible only within the mainstream of a serious political force. Answering the question whether his decision was influenced by the probable adoption of a new law on a national first-past-the-post election, Mr. Lavrynovych said it is not yet a question of election list numbers: he simply selected a party closest to him “in spirit.” What attracted special attention at the press conference was Mr. Udovenko’s statement that he, like any good leader, should groom a fitting replacement for himself, but it is too early to say whether this will be Mr. Lavrynovych or somebody else. It was also pointed out that NRU’s main goal at present is to gain firm ground in parliament in the 2002 elections. According to Mr. Udovenko, this is possible in coalition with other national democratic parties. Among likely comrades-in-arms are the Ukrainian Popular Movement (UNR, Kostenko’s Rukh) and the Democratic Union. It is too early to discuss reunification of the two Rukhs into a single party because, Mr. Udovenko claims, a mechanistic unification of these parties will be of no benefit and will not help win elections.
However, it would be all too logical to suggest that Mr. Lavrynovych is returning to national politics not only as a relatively young and energetic replacement for Mr. Udovenko. Perhaps in the next parliamentary election campaign the question will be to unite not only the two Rukhs but also as many national democratic parties and movements as possible into a single fist.
Mr. Lavrynovych, known as the No. 2 man in Rukh when the latter was still led by the late Vyacheslav Chornovil, has always been distinguished by a personal highly critical attitude toward what, in his opinion, was going on in the party at the moment, namely, lack of development and voluntarism. The Kostenko Rukh, as Mr. Lavrynovych once told The Day, has preserved the worst practices he had often criticized when Mr. Chornovil was still alive. Answering the question about who initiated his return to the NRU, the People’s Deputy said, “Oleksandr Lavrynovych.”
“Politics will be determined in the years to come by coordinated collective actions rather than individual mastery,” Lavrynovych believes. “I have resolved a difficult dilemma: to quit politics or try to do something, for I am not indifferent to what is going on in Ukraine.”
Visiting The Day’s editorial office on September 13, Mr. Lavrynovych furnished more details of the reason why he made this decision and of his further intentions. In his opinion, today’s NRU is “an entirely different organization” in comparison with the one that existed two years ago. Noting that leadership remains a major problem when it comes to unifying the national democrats, he said he had noticed no jealousy on this issue among other NRU fraction members. Answering The Day’s question about NRU’s attitude toward the Yushchenko government, Mr. Lavrynovych said the Cabinet make-up does not reflect the parliamentary majority’s, which is, in his opinion, a mistake by Viktor Yushchenko, “a mine planted on the day when the government was finally formed.” As the lawmaker believes, the aspiration to find “something other than” a government of professionals and a coalition is not effective as far as the relationship between Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet is concerned.
According to Mr. Lavrynovych, Rukh can regain its erstwhile political clout by clearly identifying its place and role within a broad coalition (“a single purely national democratic force is an utopia”) and “by recruiting new personalities with new ideas.”
