Verkhovna Rada fails to pass election law, Constitutional amendments (09/07/97)

Verkhovna Rada fails to pass election law, Constitutional amendments

by Marta Kolomayets
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - During the specially convened session of the Verkhovna Rada held August 28-29, lawmakers failed in their attempts to both introduce amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine and pass a new election law. Although these were the main reasons for the two-day conclave that concluded the seventh session of the Verkhovna Rada, the Parliament once again made no progress on either issue.

The amendments to the Constitution, introduced by two left-wing deputies - Ivan Chyzh who presented proposals on behalf of both the Peasant and Socialist Party factions and Volodymyr Moiseyenko, a member of the Communist faction - and Mykola Karnaukh Independent Group were aimed at increasing the powers of the national legislature at the expense of the executive and judicial branches and included the power to override a presidential veto by a simple majority.

Their proposals - 48 in all - called for limiting the powers of the Constitutional Court and giving the legislative branch the right to interpret the law, authorizing the Verkhovna Rada to call a referendum on any issue or hold a vote of no confidence on individual ministers. But not one draft received the necessary constitutional two-thirds majority (300 votes) to be adopted.

Although rumors of what had been billed as an attempt at a "constitutional coup" had worried President Leonid Kuchma and members of the Ukrainian government, some left-wing deputies suggested that the reason they did not pass any changes to the Constitution was because the iron-fisted Parliament Chairman Oleksander Moroz did not preside over this special session. One day earlier, on August 27, he was rushed to the hospital suffering from a gall bladder attack. His gall bladder was removed the following day and he is recuperating comfortably at Feofaniya Clinic near Kyiv.

Deputy Chairman Oleksander Tkachenko fell ill on August 28 - complaining of bowel spasms - and also was rushed to the hospital where he underwent surgery to remove an obstruction in his rectum. He also has been listed in satisfactory condition.

Most lawmakers who support President Kuchma voted against amendments to the Constitution. National Deputy Mykhailo Ratushnyi of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists commented that changes in the Constitution "could cause huge tensions in society," while Rukh leader Vyacheslav Chornovil said that these changes could introduce "a destructive aspect to the work of Parliament."

The two-day session in late August underscored the fact that relations between the legislative and executive branches of power have grown so thorny in recent months that deputies interrupted their summer vacation and hurried back to Kyiv for a special one-day session on August 15, for fear that President Kuchma might exercise his right to dismiss the Parliament if it does not hold a session for 30 days.

The August 28-29 session, planned back in July, was seen by some deputies as an attempt to adopt a new election law before the start of the campaign season in September. There is little chance that the bill, which proposes a mixed majoritarian-proportional system, will be adopted in time for the March 1998 parliamentary elections .

Its biggest supporters are the Communist, Socialist and Rukh factions in Parliament - because they are the most structured in the current Verkhovna Rada and enjoy popular support. Most democratic deputies, on the other hand, do not think Ukraine's political parties are strong enough at this point in time, nor do they think society is ready for such a system.

Speaking to lawmakers at the August 29 session, Deputy Chairman of Parliament Viktor Musiyaka said that if the Verkhovna Rada does not adopt a new election law, the old one will be amended.

"If elections are held on the basis of the current law, either the Verkhovna Rada will not exist or it will be invalid," he said, by virtue of the fact that there will be too few elected deputies to enact law. He was referring to the current law, which requires that 50 percent of registered voters in each district cast their ballots and that a candidate have 50 percent plus one of that vote to be declared a winner.

Mr. Musiyaka added that he favors the adoption of a law based on a mixed system, since "this will allow us to move toward continuity in the Verkhovna Rada's activities." However, discussions were stalled in Parliament on August 29 and lawmakers decided to return to this issue once the eighth session began on September 2. On September 2, they decided to postpone debates regarding the law until September 9.

According to Mr. Musiyaka, left-wingers in the Rada have warned that they will insist on a new elections law, based on the proportional system or on a mixed system and they have threatened to abstain from voting on new taxation laws if a new election law is not passed by September 29 - which marks six months before the elections are to be held.

Once again, the left-wingers' position conflicts with that of President Kuchma, who, speaking to the press upon his return from Crimea, said that a change from the majoritarian system to a mixed system would not be desirable at this time.

However, there is no longer any talk of postponing the elections or prolonging the mandates of deputies.

A move to impeach Kuchma

The president has a whole new set of problems with the start of the new session of Parliament. On September 3, the Verkhovna Rada Legal Policy and Judicial Reform Committee, chaired by Volodymyr Stretovych, approved a decision to initiate impeachment procedures against President Kuchma because he has three times vetoed the Local State Administrations Bill, which removes power from the central government and gives regional administrations more flexibility.

According to Mr. Stretovych, the Ukrainian president has violated the Constitution by not signing the act on local government administration despite the fact that the Rada has twice overridden his veto. Committee members said President Kuchma's refusal to sign the bill can be viewed as a misuse of power or authority under Article 165 of the Criminal Code.

Deputy Taras Stetskiv, also a member of the committee, told Interfax that the decision to impeach the president will be submitted to the Parliament for examination; it must be supported by a constitutional majority. If the measure passes, the Verkhovna Rada would have to form a special investigative committee, which would include a special prosecutor and special investigators.

Before leaving for Vilnius on September 4, President Kuchma called the parliamentary committee's actions "a bluff and a comedy," "devoid of any meaning for those who know the Constitution of Ukraine."

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