Turning the pages back... July 16, 1997 (07/11/99)

Turning the pages back...

July 16, 1997

Two years ago, on July 16, the current prime minister of Ukraine, Valerii Pustovoitenko, was confirmed in his position by the Verkhovna Rada.

Our Kyiv Press Bureau reported in 1997 that Mr. Pustovoitenko, then the acting minister of the Cabinet of Ministers, was narrowly confirmed as independent Ukraine's sixth prime minister by a contentious Verkhovna Rada in a vote of 226 for, 91 against, 26 abstentions and 11 national deputies not voting.

The 50-year-old former chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk City Council and its Executive Committee drew support largely from centrist and left-centrist factions in Ukraine's Parliament. The Communist and Rukh factions refused to endorse Mr. Pustovoitenko's candidacy.

The 226 national deputies who confirmed the new head of government two days before adjourning for the summer constituted the constitutional majority plus one of the Verkhovna Rada votes required for such approval.

President Leonid Kuchma, who attended the confirmation hearing and vote with the entire Cabinet of Ministers, hailed Mr. Pustovoitenko's election as a "positive move," noting that the vote split the Verkhovna Rada into "those who support the government and those who do not."

In his 20-minute address to the morning session of Parliament, Mr. Pustovoitenko said that, if confirmed as prime minister, he would focus on forming a "professional" government, repaying back wages and restructuring Ukraine's oil and gas industry. He said the priorities of his government would be to reform the tax system, develop the agro-industrial complex, continue privatization and develop small- and mid-sized industries.

Now, two years later, on July 6, the Pustovoitenko government survived the third attempt in a year by the Parliament to oust the government. Opponents, led by the Communist majority in the Verkhovna Rada, noted the poor state of Ukraine's economy and the government's dismal record on the payment of wage and pension arrears.

Source: "Parliament confirms Pustovoitenko as PM," by Khristina Lew, Kyiv Press Bureau, The Ukrainian Weekly, July 20, 1997 (Vol. LXV, No. 29).

| Home Page |