Kaniv Four disintegrates as coalition cannot agree on a single candidate (10/31/99)

Kaniv Four disintegrates as coalition cannot agree on a single candidate

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Unable to agree on who among them should be their single presidential candidate, the Kaniv Four political alliance disintegrated on October 26, with each candidate going his own way, and Oleksander Tkachenko announcing that he had aligned with Communist candidate Petro Symonenko.

The alliance twice appeared to have agreed on a single candidate, first Oleksander Moroz on October 14, and then briefly Yevhen Marchuk on October 25, but their varying political opinions and strong individual ambitions finally caused the coalition - which was better at projecting a united front than achieving it - to fall apart.

The switch to Mr. Marchuk after the group seemingly had agreed on Mr. Moroz caused some surprise here, but not nearly as much as when Mr. Tkachenko, after having held journalists at bay for four hours while the group ostensibly finalized a political document formally endorsing their new choice, announced at a press conference that the alliance was no more.

"Today we had another round of consultations, yet we failed to convince Moroz to abide by our preliminary agreement," explained Mr. Tkachenko. "Our plans to mobilize the electorate have failed. In this situation, there is no sense in continuing to pursue our main task."

He drew gasps and shouts from journalists when he made another unexpected declaration: that he had agreed in talks with Mr. Symonenko to withdraw his own candidacy in favor of the Communist Party candidate.

Mr. Tkachenko said three members of the alliance had spent the better part of the day trying to convince Mr. Moroz to endorse Mr. Marchuk and withdraw his own candidacy. He specifically blamed the Socialist Party candidate for the group's disintegration because of his failure to do so.

"Moroz, without consulting with Marchuk, or Oliinyk, or Tkachenko, yesterday announced that he was forced to heed the demand of the Politburo of the Socialist Party and would continue his candidacy on his own, thus betraying us," said Mr. Tkachenko

Mr. Moroz indeed already had stated that he would continue his candidacy and would not withdraw from the race, but political experts expected that the Kaniv Four would continue in a variation similar to what occurred with the group's initial decision to back Mr. Moroz. At the time Mr. Marchuk had said he would support the alliance's choice and continue to cooperate with it, but would also not withdraw his own candidacy.

At a separate press conference following the coalition's official announcement of its demise, Mr. Moroz acknowledged his party had demanded that he continue to run but disagreed with the notion that he had dropped out of the Kaniv Four. He said he hoped to continue consultations with the group.

The Socialist nominee explained that he had made his decision after a marathon negotiating session that resulted in a switch of support by the group to Mr. Marchuk. He said he had even agreed to a scenario in which he and Mr. Marchuk would be named as the twin choice of the Kaniv Four. But that move was opposed by Mr. Tkachenko, who insisted that Mr. Symonenko become the alliance's front man.

Although Mr. Symonenko's name was eventually cast aside, Mr. Moroz said he realized his candidacy was no longer part of the group's plans. "As a result I became convinced that my options were limited," said Mr. Moroz.

The Kaniv Four candidates - Socialist nominee Mr. Moroz, Peasant Party nominee Mr. Tkachenko, Cherkasy Mayor Volodymyr Oliinyk and Mr. Marchuk, nominated by a bloc of rightist parties - had declared back on Ukrainian Independence Day (August 24) in the city of Kaniv their intention to consolidate their efforts and eventually support a single person from among themselves. They had said from the start that their foremost goal was to block the re-election of incumbent President Leonid Kuchma, and that this alone was sufficient drive to keep them together.

Many experts expressed doubt that the four presidential candidates - all with strong egos and ambitions - would agree on a single choice, and most were startled when the group, after failing to announce its choice before a self-imposed deadline of October 10, put forth Mr. Moroz four days later.

In a telling sign of the fractiousness that decision had caused, Mr. Marchuk announced that he would go it alone, while emphasizing that he would continue to work with the group and support its candidate. The other three stated that, in turn, they would support the continued candidacy of Mr. Marchuk, albeit outside the framework of the alliance - and thus, the Kaniv Four became the Kaniv Three Plus One.

Because the four candidates had announced at the time that they would leave open the possibility that their choice could change before October 28, and because neither Mr. Oliinyk nor Mr. Tkachenko withdrew their respective candidacies, it became clear that the members of the alliance were having a difficult time pleasing one another.

Then on the morning of October 25, word spread among journalists that the alliance had switched its support to Mr. Marchuk after an all-night negotiating session that had ended at 3:15 a.m.

At a press conference later that day, Mr. Tkachenko explained that the negotiations were difficult and that all possible options were discussed. He acknowledged that Communist candidate Mr. Symonenko had taken part in them, even though he was not a member of the group. "Don't forget that Symonenko took part in the initial negotiations by which the Kaniv Four was formed," explained Mr. Tkachenko.

The Peasant Party nominee said he would refrain from commenting on the decision to back Mr. Marchuk until after the four candidates had signed the political document formalizing their choice the next day, which, of course, never happened.

The alliance's break-up and its failure to stick with Mr. Moroz had much to do with the political onslaught by state television, controlled by the Kuchma administration and the president's election campaign team, against the Socialist nominee after a member of his campaign team in Kryvyi Rih was implicated in the grenade attack on presidential candidate Natalia Vitrenko on October 2. Serhii Ivanchenko, the person accused of organizing the attack, has disappeared and is being sought in Ukraine and Russia.

Kaniv Four member Mr. Oliinyk said at an October 27 press conference that the Kuchma campaign team and Ukraine's law enforcement organs had effectively discredited the Moroz candidacy.

While admitting that the group had been dissatisfied with a Kaniv Three Plus One scenario situation, in which Mr. Marchuk decided to stay at the perimeter of the alliance, and noting that the coalition all along had been looking at other options to keep unity, Mr. Oliinyk said the successful political attacks on Mr. Moroz via television had changed the situation dramatically.

"When the nation began to see nightly the face of [Serhii] Ivanchenko every night, and when, along with his description, it was repeatedly said that he was a member of the Moroz campaign team, as if that were a tattoo on his forehead, we had to take this under consideration," explained Mr. Oliinyk.

Mr. Oliinyk said he kept his word and had withdrawn his candidacy in favor of Mr. Marchuk, but suggested that his candidate is partly to blame for the collapse of the Kaniv Four as well. He indicated that it was Mr. Marchuk who had caused the initial dissent within the group when he had declared that he would continue his own candidacy while supporting the group's initial choice of Mr. Moroz.

| Home Page |