Opposition forces unite to resist majority's parliamentary "coup" (12/22/02)

Opposition forces unite to resist majority's parliamentary "coup"

by Conor Humphries
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - Leaders of the four main opposition parties on December 19 pledged to unite to resist what Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko described as a "coup d'état" in the Verkhovna Rada in which the pro-presidential majority formed its own parliamentary tabulating committee on December 17 before proceeding to pass resolutions by voting outside the Parliament chamber.

The leaders of the Communist and Socialist parties, Our Ukraine and Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc declared at a press conference on December 19 that they were ready to resort to street demonstrations and mass strikes in order to make the majority meet their conditions.

Their conditions - which will form the basis of a draft resolution they will submit to the majority - include the cancellation of the December 17 voting in which they allege parliamentary regulations were broken by passing resolutions in private which approved the redistribution of parliamentary committees, the replacement of National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Chairman Volodymyr Stelmakh with Serhii Tyhypko and the cancellation of the 2003 draft budget.

"We must return to the status quo of 10 a.m. on December 17 [before the voting took place]," said the leader of the Our Ukraine bloc, Viktor Yushchenko.

The dramatic events of Tuesday, December 17, began when opposition forces again surrounded the presidium and rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada after deputies voted to consider the appointment of Mr. Tyhypko as NBU chairman in a repeat of the previous week's blocking of the parliamentary chamber on December 11. National Deputy Igor Sharov then announced on behalf of the majority that it had agreed among itself on the appointment of Mr. Tyhypko and that the majority had issued a resolution forming an alternative to the existing tabulating committee in order to hold voting. The committee, headed by National Deputy Volodymyr Zaitsev of the Social Democratic Party United then decided to hold voting by assigned ballot papers (each deputy received a ballot with his/her name printed on it), rather than via the computerized voting in the session hall that opposition forces were successfully blocking for the second time.

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn then called a recess to hold a vote on the draft resolutions prepared by the majority on the budget, National Bank and redistribution of Rada committees. Ballots were given out by the tabulating committee to leaders of the Rada's factions and, amid much confusion voting took place in the office of Oleksander Zadorozhnyi. The tabulating committee then announced that the majority had succeeded in passing all of the measures.

Later that day at a press conference, opposition leaders declared that they would seek to have the results invalidated in court, noting that even the regulations of the majority's commission had been violated as 30 ballots were submitted late. Ms. Tymoshenko said that a claim would be submitted bearing signatures of approximately 200 deputies.

"A coup d'état has been carried out in Parliament," said Mr. Symonenko, addressing the Rada the following day and calling on the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada to invalidate Tuesday's vote.

In addition to canceling the votes, the opposition insisted at the press conference two days later that pressure on opposition deputies to join the majority must come to an end, that a moratorium must be declared on deputies moving from faction to faction, and that deputies elected from a party list should be dismissed when they leave their faction. All of the opposition parties have seen a steady flow of deputies from their faction to the parliamentary majority, with Our Ukraine losing five on one day last week. Opposition leaders have repeatedly blamed this on pressure from the authorities.

They suggested that, if the majority meets these conditions the opposition would allow the appointment of Mr. Tyhypko as chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine exchange.

"If these conditions are met, we are ready to return to normal legislative activities," said Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz.

At their press conference the opposition leaders said that they had agreed to unite in their struggle with the authorities, citing the events of December 17 as the cause of their union. Reading from a joint statement titled "Are you for or against Ukraine?" Mr. Moroz declared the union: "We the leaders of democratic opposition forces are announcing the joining of our efforts on the basis of the factions of Our Ukraine, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc."

The opposition leaders said they were combining their efforts in order to prevent Ukraine from falling further into political chaos - a situation that could lead to economic catastrophe. They also commented that the current authorities are implementing a policy that could result in the loss of Ukraine's independence.

"The authorities crossed the final line of legality, morality and honor," Mr. Moroz read from the joint statement. "The current authorities are capable of stepping over the law, over the Parliament, over democracy, and, finally, over Ukraine itself," he added.

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