New parliamentary majority ousts Tkachenko (01/30/00)

New parliamentary majority ousts Tkachenko

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - In a move that has split Ukraine's Parliament along ideological lines and left lingering a question on the constitutionality of its action, the newly formed center-right democratic majority of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada on January 21 ousted the Parliament's leadership, including Chairman Oleksander Tkachenko and First Vice-Chairman Adam Martyniuk, after meeting in a special session at a venue beyond the Verkhovna Rada building.

The 242 members of the 11 factions that make up the majority voted unanimously (with one abstention and two not present) to remove the Verkhovna Rada chairman for egregious violations of parliamentary procedure. They also agreed on procedural changes that will require normal floor votes to be open, and ordered the hammer and sickle insignia, symbol of Ukraine's Communist past, removed from the facade of the Parliament building and interior walls.

"Today we can say that we are in fact beginning a new era in Ukraine's parliamentary process," said Hennadii Udovenko, the respected ex-president of the United Nations General Assembly and today the leader of the Rukh 1 faction (National Rukh of Ukraine), which is part of the recently formed majority. Mr. Udovenko made the proposal that put the issue of Mr. Tkachenko's dismissal to a floor vote.

When he was elected in mid-1998 as a compromise candidate after some 20 other choices had been rejected, Mr. Tkachenko had promised to guide the Parliament out of its paralysis and to work with the executive branch of government. His tenure, however, has caused increased friction and gridlock, not only within the body but with the executive branch as well.

The expulsion of Mr. Tkachenko from the post of chairman, which occurred on the last day of the winter legislative session, came after Mr. Tkachenko refused for two days to allow a floor vote on a motion to suspend the speaker and his first assistant.

The moves by the majority began when the chairman refused to accept a successful majority initiative of January 18 that would have required all floor votes outside of those mandated by the Constitution to take place in open, by-name polling. Mr. Tkachenko claimed that the majority had violated procedures in that many national deputies voted for absent members, and others who voted did not have the right because they had taken positions in the government. Mr. Tkachenko's dubious decree caused a walkout of the 11 factions.

Members of the center-right majority, which had stated during the announcement of its formation the week before that a main objective would be to bring a new leadership to the legislative body, decided to initiate a showdown with Mr. Tkachenko on his call.

Oleksander Karpov, a rising star in the National Democratic Party, speaking at the January 19 morning session, presented a proposal to suspend Mr. Tkachenko, who belongs to the leftist Peasant Party, and his first vice-chair, Mr. Martyniuk of the Communist Party, for two days for "systematic and gross" violations of parliamentary procedures.

When Mr. Tkachenko refused to bring the draft resolution to a vote, the majority again walked out.

The following day, however, after Mr. Tkachenko again ignored the same proposal and after a short recess, national deputies from the majority stormed the chairman's rostrum, bull horns in hand, calling on the Parliament leader and his first assistant to step down. The group announced that it had collected 235 signatures demanding Mr. Tkachenko's resignation.

After abandoning the session once again, the democratic majority announced later that day that it would meet in a formal session the next day at the Ukrainian Home exhibition center as a protest to Mr. Tkachenko's actions.

On January 21, while Mr. Tkachenko led a plenary session in the Verkhovna Rada building attended by 180 leftist national deputies of the Communist, Socialist, Progressive Socialist and Peasant factions, Mr. Udovenko of the Rukh 1 faction and Oleksander Yemets of the Reforms-Congress faction were proposing the resignation of the chairman at the Ukrainian Home, where the parliamentary majority met in special session. They charged the chairman with numerous breaches of procedure, including the "creation of unequal opportunities in debates, violation of ethics and norms that involve closed plenary sessions, and disregard for decision-making procedures."

After the vote, the session agreed to ask the Constitutional Court to give an opinion on an amendment to the constitutional provision that gives national deputies immunity from criminal prosecution. It also formed an ad hoc investigative committee to review the financial and organizational operations of the Parliament's administrative apparatus during Mr. Tkachenko's tenure.

One member of the parliamentary left, Oleksander Moroz, a leader of the Socialist Party, showed up at the Ukrainian Home to ask the majority to return to the Verkhovna Rada building. He told the right-center national deputies that their actions were against procedure and pleaded with them to stick to the Constitution and to parliamentary rules. He warned that "this could be the end of the parliamentary process in Ukraine."

At a hastily called press conference held after the vote, Mr. Tkachenko said he would not surrender his office. He explained that he would only obey decisions made in the Verkhovna Rada session hall, in strict conformity with the parliamentary rules and procedures, while adding that only the head of the Parliament has the right to convene legislative sessions. He put the blame for the parliamentary crisis on President Leonid Kuchma.

"It has been artificially created to fulfill the ambitions of the president and his entourage, said Mr. Tkachenko.

Many here believe that President Kuchma has placed a heavy hand on the split of the Verkhovna Rada, and that his ultimate goal is to organize a Parliament that will serve him and his agenda.

That accusation has been leveled also by critics of the national referendum that the president supports and is widely believed to have initiated. The referendum asks, among other things, whether voters favor a vote of no-confidence in the Ukrainian Parliament and whether it should be reduced from a 450-member body to 300.

President Kuchma remained relatively silent as the situation in the Verkhovna Rada deteriorated into crisis. On January 21, after the majority coalition had ousted the chairman, the president reiterated his support for the development of a true parliamentary majority and said the legislative paralysis in the country had to end sooner or later.

"The lawmakers realized that under conditions of uncertainty and irresponsibility no establishment can work, including the legislative body," said President Kuchma.

The majority coalition moved quickly to consolidate its actions the evening of January 21, announcing that it had taken the reins of the Parliament's administrative apparatus. By the following day Mr. Tkachenko and Mr. Martyniuk had been stripped of their government-furnished security details, automobiles and telephone lines.

Mr. Karpov, who was appointed head of the Parliament's administration, announced on January 23 that he had already uncovered irregularities in the apparatus's workings, information that was handed over to the ad hoc investigative committee.

The actions of the parliamentary majority acquired some legitimacy on January 22 when the Ministry of Justice ruled that the moves by the parliamentary majority did not contravene Ukrainian law. The Justice Department report stated that the procedures used fell within the parameters of the Constitution, specifically, Article 88, and within the Parliament's rules of procedure.

Ultimately, the legitimacy of the parliamentary majority's actions will be decided by Ukraine's Constitutional Court. Mr. Tkachenko has already petitioned the court to render a decision.

Both sides have also turned to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for support for their stands. A quarterly plenary session of the PACE began in Strasbourg, France, on January 24 and both the right-center and the leftist factions sent delegations to state their respective cases.

The majority coalition says it will present a new parliamentary leadership after the current Verkhovna Rada recess ends on February 1. It is currently caucusing to decide on a chairman, two vice-chairmen and committee chairs.

As The Weekly went to press, Viktor Medvedchuk, the current second vice-chairman and leader of the Social Democratic Party (United), and Ivan Pliushch, a former Verkhovna Rada chairman and member of the National Democratic Party, were being considered to lead the Parliament. Earlier the candidacies of Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine's first president, and Mr. Udovenko were rejected.

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