Viktor YUSHCHENKO: “I consider myself self-sufficient,” “This is my state,” “How to divide things up concretely,” “I’m ready to run on the list in the 451st place”
In the last few days the domestic political arena has come out with yet another dose of logic and consistency. It is particularly telling especially if one recalls the attitudes of some experts, officeholders, and politicians during the cassette scandal.
Political scientist Mykola Tomenko, close to the Our Ukraine bloc, is convinced that the parliamentary majority in the future legislature can be formed only if Our Ukraine and For A United Ukraine join forces in Verkhovna Rada, reports Interfax-Ukraine. Tomenko is equally confident that in this case Viktor Yushchenko would almost automatically become premier, while someone from For Our Ukraine, perhaps Volodymyr Lytvyn, would become speaker. But Mr. Yushchenko thinks differently.
The Friday before last the head of Our Ukraine addressed European University students and members of the PoDiya School of Women Political Leaders in Kyiv. It was Yushchenko’s first public appearance in the wake of his recent trip to the United States, but not a single word was uttered by the former premier about either the results of his trip (unsuccessful in the opinion of many analysts) nor about the existing configuration of political parties which make up his bloc. Perhaps this was due to the ambiguity of Our Ukraine positions that Yushchenko’s rating in recent public opinion polls began to decline. Unheeded, the former premier, it seems, is still bent on avoiding concrete declarations. Perhaps of all the issues Yushchenko has a point in this advice — one can listen to any politician before the election, but one should also bear in mind that this occurs only once every four years. Thus it is better to rely on common sense, not emotions and impressions.
What is the share set for each member party on your bloc’s slate? Word has it that such parties like Reforms and Order and both Rukhs will have ten percent. Is this pattern still in force?
Some strange things are going on. Why should our kitchen talk be causing so much trouble? I swear that until recently the bloc’s Council of Leaders has not been dealing with the quotas issue. We asked our experts to come to some consensus on this issue. Frankly, I am amazed by all this talk about ten percent. To set such quotas is to humiliate my partners’ present attitude. My advice is to sign on to the bloc as it will benefit the parties and they will be able to win more votes than if they go it alone. This talk is definitely aimed either to discredit us or to generate a conflict within the bloc. My position is this: each member party in Our Ukraine should have guarantees of getting the same number of seats it won in the last elections. We must respect the present ratings and image of the member parties. If there were effective monitoring and objective procedures for establishing the popularity ratings of parties in Ukraine, we could accurately evaluate the current standing of each member party. However, there is a great difficulty here — who will do the evaluating, what should be the period to be covered by them, and how objective their results will be. I do not want to provoke any conflict among my partners in the bloc. Now that the initial step has been taken, we have to work out the technique of setting quotas allowing member parties to have some extra seats in the end. I do not believe the sharing will make many waves as I am ready for any compromise. I am not a career politician and can be the 451st on the slate (Verkhovna Rada has 450 deputies). There are many things, other than politics, that interest me. I am taking a realistic view of my career in politics. If I can contribute to Ukrainian independence and progress of democracy, I will stay in politics. Certainly, we must all be ready to sacrifice.
Will the Yushchenko bloc join ranks with For A United Ukraine in the future legislature to form a joint caucus? The more so that the president’s representative in Verkhovna Rada Roman Bezsmertny is now with Our Ukraine, while For A United Ukraine might be chaired by Director of the Presidential Administration Volodymyr Lytvyn.
If you believe that my position is not strong enough and I can trade off my values, you’re deeply mistaken. It means you just don’t know my nature. I think I’m self-sufficient and can offer my colleagues a far from bad political strategy. This is our product.
If we start judging who came from where, my answer is, “I was in the government.” But does this change anything? As for Roman Bezsmertny, he is a talented young politician and I am well aware of the risks he assumed, given his close links with those in power, by signing on to my bloc. I am convinced that, if he has a constructive attitude toward those in power, this is a positive. I myself will support the authorities because it’s my state. I respect the government because it’s my government. Not because I like somebody or not: it’s my government. Still, I can’t rule out that I might criticize the government, for being in opposition makes you a productive participant of the political process. As Charles de Gaulle once put it, “The opposition is also France.” Our relationships are to be based on this principle. When uniting, we are to deal not with the sum total but rather with the geometry of unification. Each member party will have to sacrifice something. Speaking of a coalition, we must agree on one thing: a coalition takes away autonomy. What kind of an autonomy can there be if there are seven Liberal parties in Ukraine? For example, what is the difference between the Liberal Party and Reforms and Order? The difference is not in ideology. One of the provisions for signing on with our bloc is that member parties undertake a commitment to form a single fraction and party in parliament, as evidenced by member parties leaders’ signatures.
Why does Poland’s Solidarity now find itself outside parliament? Because the times changed and the voters changed. They became more sophisticated and shrewd. Thus, unless you want to have an obsolete party model, you have to keep up with the changes taking place around you. People make politics and not the other way around. If we unite in a single bloc now, this bloc will have its ideological identity. On our way to the elections we must appeal to voters through the prism of our bloc structure which is made up of four parts, Liberal, Patriotic, Christian, and Democratic. This is our concept and our ideological position. We want to set the example for other political parties that would enable them to find their way to unity. That’s why I’m prepared to make radical decisions and recommend others to follow suit. Past political records don’t count now. The fact that I was prime minister and National Bank governor says nothing. When they say to me that Roman Bezsmertny is the presidential representative in parliament, I respond, “Is the president an ineffective figure?” Speaking about my political partners, I am convinced that at some point of their careers they will have to make important political decisions. For example, decisions on unification, on forgiveness, on how to make Ukrainians more affluent. We are not advocating isolationism because that’s a sign of weakness. We have to think about Ukraine and our children. Many hurdles can be cleared if you have a worthwhile goal. It’s your right to listen to Medvedchuk, Yushchenko, Lytvyn, or Moroz. Listen and choose. But don’t forget that this isn’t a political discussion club. It happens only once in four years.
