Rada passes constitutional amendment bill (12/28/03)

Rada passes constitutional amendment bill

Opposition vows to "defend the Constitution"

Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - On Wednesday, December 24, as The Weekly was going to press, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed in its first reading one of three bills on amending the Constitution of Ukraine. A total of 276 deputies voted in favor of a bill co-authored by Communist leader Petro Symonenko and Viktor Medvedchuk, presidential chief of staff, which would make 2004 the last year that popular and direct presidential elections are held in Ukraine, instead giving this prerogative to the Parliament.

Earlier the Constitutional Court had cleared this bill, as well as two other measures, not yet voted on, for debate and preliminary adoption. Voting came after a day and a half of battles in the legislature which saw the Our Ukraine faction of former Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko and its allies from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Oleksander Moroz's Socialists, physically disrupt proceedings to prevent preliminary voting on the constitutional amendment bills.

The controversy began on Tuesday, December 23, when the Verkhovna Rada was to have debated and voted on all three bills. Wire services reported that opposition deputies objected to the limited amount of time set aside for debate, especially because a second bill, not yet voted on, would have done away with the 2004 popular presidential election - a move that would have deepened divisions within the Ukrainian political elite and one that would fly in the face of public opinion polling suggesting that between 80 and 90 percent of Ukrainians want to elect their president directly and reject delegating this authority to the parliament.

A third bill, whose authors included Mr. Moroz, would have limited presidential powers while increasing the power of the Parliament, but would have maintained direct presidential elections, was not voted on either.

Korrespondent.net reported that the backers of the bill passed in its first reading on December 24 voted by a show of hands because other deputies had allegedly disrupted the operation of the electronic voting system, and because the Communists, who had promised to support the bill, would do so only on the condition that voting take place in the Rada chamber. In January 2000, a different majority had moved proceedings from a deadlocked Verkhovna Rada building to the neighboring Ukrainian Home and elected a new parliamentary leadership, before returning within days to the chamber.

Committee says vote legitimate

The parliamentary committee headed by Communist Valerii Mishura that was charged with counting the show of hands said on the afternoon of December 24 that voting was legitimate and that 276 deputies had voted for the measure, exceeding the simple majority of 226 required to adopt a bill in its first reading.

Ukrainian News said Mr. Mishura claimed that 11 of the 19 members of the vote tabulation body had agreed to the results of the count. However, deputies from Our Ukraine and others disputed the validity of the results, and promised to challenge them.

Interfax-Ukraine reported that National Deputy Oleksander Zadorozhnyi, the president's representative in the Verkhovna Rada, had claimed that those of his colleagues who voted in favor of the constitutional amendment bill were prepared to confirm their hand vote in writing.

Korrespondent.net also cited Mr. Zadorozhnyi as stating that 49 (of 59) members of the Communist faction supported the bill. The Communists had earlier promised to support doing away with direct presidential elections beginning in 2006 on the condition that the Verkhovna Rada adopt and the president sign a law on full proportional election of members of the Parliament. Under the current system, only half of the 450 legislators are elected through party list proportional voting, and the rest are elected in single-mandate constituencies.

Zinchenko abandons majority

On December 24, following the vote, Rada Vice-Chairman and former member of the Social Democratic Party-United Oleksander Zinchenko cancelled his membership in the parliamentary majority.

Obozrevatel reported that Mr. Zinchenko made the move in protest against the latest conflict in the Verkhovna Rada. For several months, after being ejected from the SDPU headed by Mr. Medvedchuk observers reported that Mr. Zinchenko was planning a move away from the pro-presidential majority.

"Instead of consensus, the methods of Medvedchuk have been confirmed," Obozrevatel quoted Mr. Zinchenko as saying. He went on to state that everything possible was indeed being done at this time to wreck parliamentarianism in Ukraine.

Opposition to challenge the vote

The leaders of the opposition declared on December 24 that they planned to challenge the legality of the day's vote before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and that body's Venetian Commission, a high-level experts' group that reviews constitutional legislation of PACE member-states.

Speaking at a press conference, Mr. Yushchenko, Ms. Tymoshenko and Yosyp Vinskyi, a member of the Socialist Party leadership, made it clear that their parties and blocs would not leave the day's voting without a response. Ms. Tymoshenko went further, saying that the opposition would use all legal means available to "defend the Constitution."

Mr. Yushchenko said the PACE had the power to take action in response to claims brought before it, and that his supporters would formally ask that body to appraise the bill passed on December 24 and to declare the voting illegitimate.

Opposition deputies said they also plan to file suit in Ukraine, including with the Constitutional Court.

The bill passed on December 24 will be subject to a final vote, most probably in February 2004. If it garners a constitutional majority of two-thirds (300 votes), it will be considered adopted.

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