Yuschenko rejects demands for coalition government (03/11/01)

Yuschenko rejects demands for coalition government

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko on March 2 rejected a demand made by a leading Ukrainian lawmaker that he immediately revamp his Cabinet into a coalition government representative of a parliamentary majority.

The prime minister said he had no intention of succumbing to political pressure brought to bear by Verkhovna Rada First Vice-Chairman Viktor Medvedchuk, considered a prime political opponent of Mr. Yuschenko. He explained that there existed no legal basis for such a move.

"The ultimatum that certain politicians give for the deadline looks no more than political maneuvering," said Mr. Yuschenko, during a press conference in which he presented the relatively glowing economic figures for last year in comparison to the nine previous years of economic downturn.

Mr. Yuschenko said he did not believe he had a responsibility to form a government such as the one Mr. Medvedchuk was demanding until a legislative basis for it was established. He explained that documents needed to be approved specifying the legal foundation for such a government and its responsibilities, as well as the relationship between the Parliament and the government.

Mr. Yuschenko stated that the lawmakers who were demanding a coalition government were looking to the wrong person to create it. He explained that the first step to a coalition government is the official formation of a parliamentary coalition and then a majority, "which then becomes the basis for a coalition government."

The prime minister underscored that, until those proposing a new form of government make a serious effort to develop the underpinnings for it, they had no right to blatantly pressure the prime minister.

"It must be understood the government is a constitutionally mandated entity, and it demands respect and cooperation," said Mr. Yuschenko.

In the last month, as the year-old parliamentary majority in the Verkhovna Rada disintegrated over the Tapegate political crisis, three political parties in which business oligarchs hold much sway - Labor Ukraine, Democratic Union and the Social Democratic (United) Parties - have been clamoring ever more loudly for a coalition government that would consist of representatives of a new majority coalition they are developing, and which would then give the Ukrainian Parliament more sway over the work of the government.

Many political experts believe the three parties simply are looking to oust Prime Minister Yuschenko, who has made a concerted effort to reform the Ukrainian economy and move it away from the shadow dealings and opaque methods the business clans so embrace.

The clans want one of their own - in the person of Mr. Medvedchuk - to lead the government, according to Mykola Tomenko, a well-respected political analyst in Kyiv. Mr. Tomenko believes the move's timing, a year before the March 2002 elections to Parliament - is meant to give the oligarchs the governmental resources and influence to lay plans for a decisive victory in parliamentary elections and set them up for the presidential elections two years after that.

He said the three centrist parties are ready to call for Mr. Yuschenko's dismissal after a vote of no confidence when he appears before the Verkhovna Rada on April 10 to give his annual report on the state of the government. In order to obtain the majority that they currently lack to oust the Cabinet, the three parties are ready to cut a deal with the Communist Party, which has remained relatively quiet in the Tapegate scandal and recently even has cooperated with President Leonid Kuchma.

The Ukrainian president expressed support for Mr. Yuschenko during a meeting with Polish journalists on March 5 but said the prime minister needed to find the will to work more closely with the Parliament.

"I am not preparing to ask Viktor Yuschenko to resign," said President Kuchma. "He should, however, not simply work with the factions he likes, but also with those he doesn't get along with."

Labor Ukraine leader Serhii Tyhypko, who spent a very short time in the Yuschenko government as minister of economy before resigning to run for a vacant seat in the Verkhovna Rada, first proposed the coalition government in mid-February and stated that, should the Yuschenko government refuse to consider it, perhaps a new one would be needed. Mr. Tyhypko's proposal fell into a political crack until Mr. Medvedchuk dragged it out of the shadows in a very direct manner during a Parliament weekly press briefing on February 27.

"Either the government goes along the path of cooperation with the parliamentary majority by forming a coalition government to carry joint responsibility, or in April the majority will create a new coalition government with a new prime minister, who will be responsible for cooperation between the branches of government," said Mr. Medvedchuk.

Lawmakers who in theory, support the idea of a coalition government have nonetheless criticized the way in which Mr. Medvedchuk and the three parties supporting him have pursued the matter. National Deputy Viktor Pynzenyk called the notion "a beautiful concept" during a press conference on March 2.

"Today, however, this is an effort simply to remove the prime minister and replace him with an oligarch," said Mr. Pynzenyk. "It is an attempt to build a new coalition of oligarchs and communists, who will then divide the ministerial portfolios among themselves."

Mr. Pynzenyk added that the proper time to begin a debate on a coalition government would be after the parliamentary elections, and only if the elections are held on the basis of proportional (by party) representation as was proposed in a legislative bill recently passed by the Parliament, but vetoed by the president in February.

| Home Page |