Rada approves package of laws (12/12/04)

UKRAINE HEADED FOR RERUN OF PRESIDENTIAL RUN-OFF

Rada approves package of laws

by Stephen Bandera
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - Tensions were lifted in Ukraine's political crisis on December 8 after the Verkhovna Rada overwhelmingly approved a new law on presidential elections and changes to the country's Constitution.

Supporters of presidential candidate Victor Yushchenko voted together with the pro-President Kuchma parliamentary caucuses, the Communists and the Socialists to provide 402 votes for three bills in a single package.

Outgoing president Leonid Kuchma was present in Parliament to immediately sign the laws.

Opposition MPs demanded that Mr. Kuchma be present, because they suspected he might opt to not sign the new law on presidential elections. This was the first time in over two years that President Kuchma appeared in the Verkhovna Rada.

The constitutional reforms required 300 votes, or two-thirds of the country's 450-member Parliament, to be passed.

Mr. Yushchenko's close ally, Yulia Tymoshenko, and her bloc, did not support changing the Constitution of Ukraine. The changes have been described as transforming the form of Ukraine's government from a "presidential-parliamentary" republic to a "parliamentary-presidential" one.

Parliament will approve candidates for prime minister, minister of defense and foreign affairs minister nominated by the president, and will approve other members of the Cabinet nominated by the prime minister. Under current legislation, Parliament approves the prime minister only, and the president appoints and fires members of the Cabinet of Ministers.

The amendments also extend the term of office for national deputies from four to five years, following the March 2006 parliamentary elections.

The Constitutional changes will go into effect either September 1, 2005, or January 1, 2006, with the timing dependent upon when Parliament will approve a law that will reform the country's system of local self-governance.

On December 8 that bill received preliminary approval in the Verkhovna Rada and was sent to the Constitutional Court for its consideration. Parliament will have to vote on the bill at least one more time before it becomes law.

When enacted, that law will give elected local governmental bodies a greater say in whom the Cabinet of Ministers will appoint to head regional and local state administrations.

The new law on presidential elections, drafted by pro-Yushchenko deputies in the Rada, takes aim at the three primary methods of falsification, according to National Deputy Roman Zwarycz.

The law reduces the number of absentee ballot certificates to 0.5 percent of total voters, down from the previous 4 percent limit. In addition, voters' passports will be stamped to indicate that they have already voted. The law also reduces the number of voters eligible to vote at home via mobile ballot boxes.

In addition the law includes a provision for preventing the previously widespread practice of excluding voting station commission members the day before and on the day of the vote.

Following the vote, the Verkhovna Rada's next order of business was the approval of new members of the 15-member Central Electoral Commission.

Eleven of the 15 former members and four new commissioners were approved.

Parliament did not approve Serhii Kivalov, who headed the CEC during the two scandal-ridden rounds of presidential elections. Mr. Kivalov promptly left the session hall as opposition deputies sounded catcalls after him.

Later that day, Yaroslav Davydovych, a veteran CEC member who refused to sign the contested presidential election results from November 21, was approved to head the elections body.

In a related development, President Leonid Kuchma told Parliament that Procurator General Hennadii Vasyliev had submitted his resignation and that he will sign it. Mr. Yushchenko has put forward Mr. Vasyliev's resignation as a demand last week.

Mr. Vasyliev explained that he is resigning because he "does not want his name or position to be used as an element of trade in today's political game," according to UNIAN.

"He pre-empted us by one or two hours," Oleksander Zinchenko, Mr. Yushchenko's campaign manager, told journalists on December 9, "we were going to initiate his dismissal on the grounds of the state prosecutor's lack of action on electoral falsification."

Prior to becoming procurator general, Mr. Vasyliev was a depty elected in the Donetsk oblast in 2002.

The events of December 8 left many of the opposition's demands unsatisfied. Speaking at a briefing the next day, Anatolii Hrytsenko, who heads the analytical division of the Yushchenko campaign, summarized the shortcomings.

"The opposition was unsuccessful in securing the dismissal of the (entire) Mr. Yanukovych government, Minister of Internal Affairs Mykola Bilokon and the heads of the state administrations in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, Kirovohrad and Luhansk," Mr. Hrytsenko said.

Mr. Hrytsenko also said that Mr. Yushchenko would have preferred to enact constitutional amendments after a new Parliament was elected in 2006.

Not everyone in the Yushchenko camp was content with the decision.

Ms. Tymoshenko called the December 8 vote "a victory for Kuchma" and said that "it will be hard to instill order" for Mr. Yushchenko if he becomes president. She said that her faction will appeal the vote to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

But Mr. Yushchenko's support for the constitutional amendments was a key condition for another Yushchenko ally, Socialist leader Oleksander Moroz.

After the vote, Mr. Moroz confirmed that his party will continue working for Mr. Yushchenko during the election campaign.

A member of the Yushchenko caucus, Mr. Zwarycz argued that the legislation is not as bad as Ms. Tymoshenko claims and refuted accusations that a deal had been struck with President Kuchma.

"We are convinced that the nine months minimum (of a Yushchenko presidency) will be sufficient to restore democracy in Ukraine," Mr. Zwarycz said, "moreover 10 of our 12 demands were included (in the constitutional amendments)."

Presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych, who had taken a leave of absence from being prime minister, was on the campaign trail in his native oblast of Donetsk when he heard about the decisions made in Kyiv.

He commented on the CEC appointments only. None of the commission members put forward by Mr. Yanukoych's Party of the Regions were approved by Parliament.

"The country is witnessing a creeping coup," Mr. Yanukovych told journalists. "Lawlessness has taken over our country."

The next day, Mr. Yanukovych's press service issued a statement on the Verkhovna Rada's approval of the constitutional amendments. Mr. Yanukovych said "the vote in Parliament was an important step towards the democratization of the state, but this process will only have a logical continuation on the regional level," according to UNIAN.

The European Union, Council of Europe and the U.S. State Department all extended congratulations on the compromises reached in Ukraine on December 8.

Mr. Yushchenko addressed tens of thousands of his supporters gathered in Kyiv's Independence square later that night, both Ms. Tymoshenko and Mr. Moroz stood by his side.

The Our Ukraine leader said that the common fight for democratic rights by the opposition and people of Ukraine "is the first chapter of the history of Europe in the third millennium."

"We are one step away from total victory, and that's the vote on December 26," Mr. Yushchenko said after thanking the protesters for their 17-day vigil in the capital city. He said that the tent-city will be reorganized, but not eradicated, to allow some protesters to work on the campaign. The massive stage also will remain in place on the "maidan."

Protesters ended their blockade of the Cabinet of Ministers by December 9, but maintained their siege of the two street entrances to the Presidential Administration.

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