Quotable notes

"If the president's decree (on holding a constitutional referendum) appears under circumstances of the (current) legal chaos, this will mean that the referendum itself will also take place in the situation of legal chaos, and this will be the beginning of a serious political destruction [process] in Ukraine.

"... Ukraine is witnessing the application of a formula typical of non-democratic transition societies: the will of the oligarchs is the will of the people. This will of the oligarchs, reinforced by the president's support for the idea of a referendum, means that referendum's results can be predicted beforehand."

- Ukrainian political analyst Mykola Tomenko, commenting on the possibility of a constitutional referendum ousting Ukraine's present legislature, as quoted by Interfax on January 14 and cited by RFE/RL Poland, Belarus and Ukaine Report.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 30, 2000, No. 5, Vol. LXVIII

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