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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Young Reformers Demand Young President

9 February, 1999 - 00:00

By Oleksandr SYRTSOV, The Day

A joint statement by Rukh leader Vyacheslav Chornovil and Reforms and Order
Party (PRP) leader Viktor Pynzenyk on their probable support of Hennady
Udovenko in the presidential elections has not found understanding among
Mr. Pynzenyk's fellow party members in Lviv.

During the eighth regional conference of Lviv PRP activists, not one
speaker voiced his support for the former foreign minister. The main reason
why the Lviv reformers did so was their feeling it was unbecoming for a
party of young reformers to support a pension-aged candidate (although
in this case it is not years that seem to mean old age). The unanimous
stand of the Lviv party men led the great reformer to say of the forced
nature of this step, "What am I to do if Viktor Yushchenko refuses point-blank?
Walk up and hit him?"

Mr. Pynzenyk reminded his fellow party members that what matters most
now is the unity of center-right forces, and pragmatic considerations force
them to opt for a compromise. But the Lviv members reminded the party head,
from the same pragmatic considerations, that Mr. Udovenko was not a figure
capable of winning the elections. The two sides finally agreed that the
party needs an internal debate on the issue of the coming elections. One
of this debate's elements will be a questionnaire to be filled by the participants
of a conference, and party members will be asked to choose among Leonid
Kuchma, Hennady Udovenko, Yevhen Marchuk, and Oleksandr Moroz for the party
to back. It is of interest that a similar questionnaire was distributed
at the Lviv city conference of PRP, which showed that Lviv reformers were
most enthusiastic about Viktor Yushchenko and Yevhen Marchuk. PRP Lviv
regional branch chairperson Anatoly Romaniuk explained to journalists the
absence of Mr. Udovenko on that list by the circumstance that when the
conference was held, his candidacy had not yet been announced.

 

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