Quotable notes

"I am an opponent of the presidency in Ukraine. In accordance with the current constitution, the president personally may issue edicts, appoint government [members] and judges, control [the] media, and be the supreme commander. This is the usurpation of power. I am seeking this post only because there is no other way to change the existing political system. There should be the supremacy of law in the state, the entire authority should belong to the soviets."

- Natalia Vitrenko, chairwoman of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine and a presidential candidate, in the June 22 issue of Nezavisimaya Gazeta (as reported in RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report).

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 17, 1999, No. 42, Vol. LXVII

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