VOX POPULI: Kyivans' views on the referendum proposals (04/16/00)

VOX POPULI: Kyivans' views on the referendum proposals

While sociological surveys have found that more than 60 percent of Ukrainians will vote in the April 16 national referendum and are expected to overwhelmingly support three of the four proposals presented on the ballot, with a fourth question having only some chance of receiving approval, we decided to hear the voices of Kyivans on the subject. The Ukrainian Weekly sent Iryna Zhelezniak, administrtive assistant at our Kyiv Bureau, out onto the still chilly streets of springtime Kyiv on April 11 to ask people whether they would vote in the referendum the following Sunday and to elecit their views on the four proposals. Here is a sampling of what she heard:

Oleksander Stritnyi, 35: I will take part in the voting. I will answer "yes." I support all the proposals. I want things to change in my country.
Halyna Opanasenko, 63, pensioner, retired physician: The questions that are being asked are correct - the more so because they have been ruled constitutional. I will vote. I always vote. Regardless of my age, I believe that my vote can change something. I agree with all the proposals. I think that our country is so young that it still does not have a well-formulated political structure. We are on the path of discovery and are learning from other countries. We are looking for what will make us better. I think that our country will become part of the global market, and we will become a world player.
Les Kochkivskyi, 50, chemist: What is going on is a political game. Our government has to some extent become a business. It is not carrying out its responsibilities.

Today the situation in Ukraine can be compared to the plight of the American Indians when the white people subjugated them. This is the work of [National Deputy Oleksander] Volkov. This is the third round [of presidential elections]. However, now that the first and last questions were removed, this referendum is no longer needed by anybody.
Ihor (did not give full name), 30, government worker: I agree that the number of deputies can be reduced, but I don't altogether agree that we need a bicameral Parliament, because that is more appropriate for a federal state, while Ukraine is a unitary state. What this will do is to divide the raions and oblasts on a subjective basis. I don't agree with that. I just don't think we need a bicameral Parliament. We need to make the single Parliament work; we need some discipline.

I also don't support the question "can the president dismiss the Verkhovna Rada." These are completely different branches of power, the legislative and the executive. But if we are moving towards an authoritarian state, totalitarianism...

The branches must remain separated, independent.

I also agree that the immunity of national deputies should be removed. Why? Because the national deputies are normal citizens like the rest of us. Everybody should be equal in terms of the law. Why should a deputy have immunity? What is he afraid of? Today we have freedom of speech, pluralism of thought and no deputies are currently being persecuted for their ideas. But one has reason to be afraid if one has broken the law and a criminal investigation has begun.
Anya (did not give full name), 25, from Donetsk: I don't yet know whether I will vote or not.
Vitalii Chypishko, 30, journalist: As a journalist of a government newspaper I believe the time has come to take a stand regarding the Verkhovna Rada and the Constitution. I believe that our people deserve a better life. I hope that people support the questions that the president has proposed for a vote. I personally will support the propositions.

But I have some subjective thoughts regarding the idea of a bicameral Parliament. I don't understand the concept. Politically, the regions are very diverse, the regions are different. How will regional policies be carried out? [The upper house of the proposed bicameral Parliament will be a body of regional representatives.] For example, in Slobozhanschyna there is one policy, in western Ukraine a completely different one. How will this be resolved?
Margarita Terinkova, 53, architectural designer: We must take part in the referendum. What is going on today is impossible. But I have not yet made up my mind on how I am going to vote.
Zoya, 18, and Anya Kulakovska, 19: We will vote. We agree with all the proposals.
Taras Onischenko, 23: I will take part in the voting. If I remember correctly, there is one question on a bicameral Parliament. I will vote against it. I am wary of it because for eight years we have had pro-presidential politics in this country and nothing has come of it. I believe that the Parliament should have more power. We need a single Parliament. We cannot afford a strong pro-presidential influence in the Parliament.
Halyna Silichenko, 49: I will not participate in the vote. I have had it with all the promises, and nothing will come of this either.

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