Young Reformers Demand Young President

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.