Tarasyuk elected to lead National Rukh of Ukraine (05/11/03)

Tarasyuk elected to lead National Rukh of Ukraine

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Less than two months after joining the National Rukh of Ukraine Party (NRU), Borys Tarasyuk became its chairman on May 4 during its 13th annual congress. The former foreign affairs minister received nearly unanimous support from the 834 delegates, with 808 supporting his candidacy, 10 voting against and 16 abstaining.

Speaking at the Culture and Arts Center on the campus of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, where the two-day congress took place, the ex-foreign minister of Ukraine, who is currently a lawmaker and chairman of the Verkhovna Rada's Committee on European Integration, laid out his political stance in a single sentence.

"Our goal is to take the reigns of power to build an independent, democratic, prosperous, law-abiding European-type country," explained Mr. Tarasyuk, who called for resolving continuing economic problems and maintaining the course towards Euro-Atlantic integration for the country.

He said the National Rukh of Ukraine must consolidate and work for the unification of all national democratic forces in Ukraine into a single political organization. He said the object of that unification should be support for a single candidate in the 2004 presidential elections, whom he identified as National Deputy Viktor Yushchenko.

Mr. Yushchenko is an ex-prime minister who currently heads the Our Ukraine faction in Parliament to which the NRU belongs. Mr. Yushchenko was present for both sessions of the congress.

"I call on all those political powers close to us in spirit to begin unification and the formation of a single monolithic party," Mr. Tarasyuk exhorted his party faithful.

Delegates heeded the call and approved a resolution that states: "Victory in these elections will depend on agreement and unity among all the democratic forces of Ukraine and full coordination of our common efforts."

The congress also approved a specific request to Mr. Yushchenko to run for the presidency in 2004 - a move that he has not yet been willing to make.

While Mr. Tarasyuk had only recently taken formal membership in the NRU, more commonly referred to simply as Rukh, he was not an unexpected nominee, nor was he an unexpected victor. Outgoing Chairman Hennadii Udovenko told The Weekly in an exclusive interview on May 7 (a full transcript will appear in an upcoming issue of The Weekly) that he had pushed the candidacy of the person whose career in Ukraine's diplomatic corps and in politics has shadowed his own. Mr. Udovenko suggested that there was not a better choice for the Rukh chairman than Mr. Tarasyuk.

Mr. Udovenko said the new Rukh chairman - who had been a member of the Ukrainian diplomatic corps at the United Nations when he was Ukraine's chief of mission there, then followed him as foreign affairs minister of Ukraine before now succeeding him as head of Rukh - was the one name that consistently had received wide support from party members when talk of the next possible leader cropped up.

"For a year I carried a handwritten list of people, of outstanding Rukh members, in my wallet. However, I could not get a consensus of support from the leaders with whom I conferred about my list during informal meeting and get-togethers," explained Mr. Udovenko.

The 72-year-old life long diplomat and politician said that is when Mr. Tarasyuk became a serious candidate. His name first surfaced in a letter Mr. Udovenko received from Rukh members in Kirovohrad, which stated "when the question of a new leadership arises, don't forget Tarasyuk."

Mr. Udovenko rejected characterizations by some that the new chairman, who originally had been a member of the Reform and Order Party after leaving Ukraine's diplomatic corps, was not a true "Rukh-ivets." He explained that Mr. Tarasyuk had drawn closer to Rukh over time by first associating with members and then attending Rukh plenary meetings, before receiving his party ticket in Lviv about two months ago. The ex-chairman emphasized that, in any case, the Reform and Order Party and Rukh had long been allied and had even considered uniting at one time, so Mr. Tarasyuk's change of membership could not be viewed as a radical departure for either him or Rukh.

As for his own refusal to run again, Mr. Udovenko cited his age as the reason. He said he was satisfied with the accomplishments of his four-year chairmanship, which included successfully overcoming the deepest crises in the history of Rukh, including the schism within the party after the tragic death of its previous leader and most charismatic personality, Vyacheslav Chornovil, and several attempts to draw membership away from the organization through the establishment of bogus copycat organizations. He said he also could take credit for raising NRU membership by 13,000 people to 31,331 members today - up from the 18,000 that were left after the party's split in 1999.

He noted that Rukh is well positioned to qualify easily for presidential elections in 2004 because it exceeds the minimal requirements for a presence in two-thirds of all oblasts and within those oblasts in two-thirds of all raions.

"Today Rukh is a strong and potent united force. The situation in the country is changing," explained Mr. Udovenko.

The ex-chairman said he would remain sufficiently busy and would maintain his position as a national deputy through the 2006 parliamentary elections, after which he would review his future options.

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