Kyiv City Council's Rukh factions reunite (10/03/99)

Kyiv City Council's Rukh factions reunite

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - In what may be the first step towards the reconsolidation of the largest national democratic political force in Ukraine, Kyiv City Council members affiliated with both camps of the split Rukh Party and the head of one of the two Kyiv city Rukh organizations on September 28 announced the formation of a single Rukh faction in City Hall.

"We hope that this is not only a first step toward the reunion of Rukh but for the union of all the democratic forces in Ukraine," explained National Deputy Oleksander Chornovolenko, the Kyiv city head of the splinter Rukh organization led by Yurii Kostenko.

The Rukh Party, which began in 1989 as a political force opposing the Soviet regime in 1989 and became the vanguard for the pro-democracy, pro-independence movement that led to Ukrainian independence, has faltered badly since it split into two camps early this year.

Although both sides have talked often about the need for reunification on the national level, neither side has shown any willingness to budge from the position that it is the rightful political heir to the once united force, and that reunion must come under its terms.

The new co-leaders of the Kyiv City Council's Rukh faction, Petro Holovatenko of Rukh-Kostenko and Valerii Lebedivskii of Rukh-Udovenko, said the decision to reunite was made because there are no evident differences between the two camps on the local issues that stand before them.

Both agreed that the re-establishment of a single Rukh faction in the Kyiv City Council will help to renew the influence the party had over local politics in the capital city before the fracture occurred in February.

Reunited in a single faction, Rukh will again account for 16 percent of the City Council's composition, which makes it the largest single party faction.

Lately the Rukh membership of the City Council has suffered several setbacks in the chambers, most glaringly the refusal of the council as a whole to agree to further name changes of city streets that were adopted during the Soviet era.

According to National Deputy Yaroslav Fedoryn, a member of Rukh-Kostenko in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada and a former Kyiv mayoral candidate, there has been little movement on the proposal to change Comintern Street to Chornovil Street since the Rukh split occurred. National democratic forces also suffered a setback in City Hall when the council could not decide on a Rukh proposal that Chervoni Kozaky Street become Ukrainski Kozaky Street.

Mr. Fedoryn said that, with Rukh's renewed strength in the council chamber, the names will get changed.

Asked how reconciliation between the two groups was reached, Mr. Chornovolenko said: "The model is simple: tolerance and straightforwardness."

The leaders of the two national Rukh organizations, Mr. Kostenko and Hennadii Udovenko, whose party is the only one legally recognized by the Ukrainian government, have endorsed the reunion, although Mr. Udovenko expressed some reservation.

Mr. Chornovolenko said he could speak for Mr. Kostenko, and that the leader had enthusiastically supported the move.

"He wanted this and called for it at the 10th anniversary celebrations [of Rukh]," said Mr. Chornovolenko.

Mr. Udovenko, speaking at a press conference a day after the announcement, was more subdued. "It would strengthen our position in the Verkhovna Rada and will strengthen them in the Kyiv City Council," said Mr. Udovenko.

He added that he had discussed the move with Mr. Kostenko and that both had agreed it was a "positive step."

However, Mr. Udovenko then went on to emphasize that only one Rukh Party legally exists. "The idea is not one of reunion, but for those who would like, for them to return to the organization," he explained.

Representatives of the Rukh-Kostenko organization were upbeat and optimistic that a broad reconciliation of Rukh would soon take place and that it would eventually lead to the formation of a single national democratic force for Ukraine.

"I believe that after the presidential election there will be an all-encompassing reunion [of Rukh] - first at the oblast level and then on up," said Mr. Chornovolenko.

Mr. Fedoryn added, "This is the first step toward the union of the center-right democratic forces."

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