Yushchenko inaugurated as president (01/30/05)

Yushchenko inaugurated as president

by Viktoria Voronovych
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - As Viktor Yushchenko took the presidential oath of office on January 23 in the Ukrainian Parliament Building, promising to work for the Ukrainian nation and pledged to uphold national sovereignty, more than a half million Ukrainians, most wearing at least a swatch of orange somewhere, watched the event from Independence Square on big screens scattered throughout the area.

The quiet hush that had fallen on the crowd as Mr. Yushchenko began the oath turned to a rhythmic rumble as the throng erupted into chants of "Yushchenko!" after the new president completed the last words. It was a chant that was heard often on this festive yet solemn day as inaugural celebrations for Ukraine's third duly elected president took place across the city and the country.

As had happened during the heady days of the Orange Revolution that had propelled Mr. Yushchenko to the country's top post, the color of orange was evident everywhere: people dressed in it and buildings were covered in it. The Ukrainian Home looked like an orange creamsicle with orange bunting flowing across its roof and down its sides. The Tchaikovsky Conservatory's bold white columns were colored orange this day, as was the portico of the October Palace Convention Center.

After the short swearing-in ceremony in the Verkhovna Rada session hall, President Yushchenko, who remained reserved and serious in his demeanor during most of the official ceremonies, informed the lawmakers and official dignitaries present in the Verkhovna Rada - including outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, eight foreign state leaders and leaders of more than 60 international delegations - that he wanted to carry the rest of the inauguration out onto Independence Square to the people that had elected him.

"On this day, dear friends, I am looking for a way for us to be among the people. I am inviting all the national deputies, guests, friends, all of you present in this hall to come to the maidan upon the closing of this session. I would like to share my oath, taken in this building, with the people. I am calling on every one of you: let us join the people. They are waiting for us; let us be together," explained Mr. Yushchenko at the conclusion of short remarks immediately after he took the presidential oath.

Mr. Yushchenko, who had promised that he would take the country back for the people from the entrenched business oligarchs, their cronies and the bureaucrats who had kept them in power for the last decade, took the first step toward that goal by keeping his inauguration as public as possible. He also made a distinct effort to imbue the presidential inauguration ceremony with Ukrainian historic symbolism.

Perhaps most importantly, the new Ukrainian president made a concerted initial effort to begin healing the festering political wound that had opened between the eastern and western regions of Ukraine over who was the country's duly elected leader. The split occurred after massive vote fraud and election manipulations forced Ukraine's Supreme Court to void the November 21 run-off and call for a third round of voting on December 26. The final count determined that Mr. Yushchenko had won the presidential election over his rival, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, by a vote of 52 percent to 44 percent.

President Yushchenko filled his speech on Independence Square - where until only days before hundreds of thousands had protested and camped for weeks to demand free and fair elections - with references to the unity of the Ukrainian nation and the singleness of its national purpose. Mr. Yushchenko said that it was time to heal wounds. He underscored his intention to reconcile the differences between the regions.

"Everyone has the right to search for his vision of his country's path. Everyone has the right to choose those political colors that are dearest to him," exclaimed Mr. Yushchenko. "But, my dear friends, dear Ukrainians, our common choice are the colors of the Ukrainian flag. They unite all of us. Those who live in the east, and those who live in the west. Those who live in the north of Ukraine, and those who live in her south."

Mr. Yushchenko emphasized that the various scare scenarios promulgated by his opponents, graphically expressed in pre- and post-election propaganda campaigns, which over the last weeks had elicited a very real sense of fear and resentment in the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Odesa and in Crimea, were baseless and would never materialize.

"I vow that everyone will be able to teach their children in the language of their parents. Everyone will be able to pray in their own house of worship. Everyone will be guaranteed the right to hold their own views. We will be able to listen to one another because we will have freedom of expression and an independent press," explained Mr. Yushchenko.

He was directly addressing concerns in the Ukrainian east that the Russian language would soon be outlawed and the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church banned, and fears that the eastern regions would be overrun by ultra-nationalists from the west.

Mr. Yushchenko dedicated the first part of his remarks to giving thanks to the Ukrainian nation, whose Orange Revolution assured that the presidential chair he had rightfully won had not been taken away by vote manipulation.

In an emotional moment, he gave special thanks to his father, "whose true teachings guided me throughout my life and brought me to this high honor of leading my country," and asked forgiveness from his mother "for all the pain that her maternal heart has had to endure, especially in the past four months."

It was a day filled with emotion, but also filled with tradition as Mr. Yushchenko tried to link his inauguration to the thousand years of Ukrainian history and culture.

The momentous day began with the arrival of Mr. Yushchenko at the Verkhovna Rada Building, where he was greeted by an honor guard dressed in the uniform of the Black Sea Kozak Corps from 1812. First to meet the president-elect was Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn, who had played a key if indirect role during the Orange Revolution in keeping the elections on a democratic track.

Before entering the session hall, Mr. Yushchenko reviewed a display of artifacts, including the official flag of the government of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, one of Ukraine's most prominent historic figures, which the Swedish government had loaned to Ukraine from its Swedish Army Museum in Stockholm for the inauguration. The artifacts were no small piece of symbolism linking Mr. Yushchenko presidency with the past.

After entering the session hall, where hundreds of lawmakers and domestic and foreign dignitaries awaited, Mr. Yushchenko took the presidential oath with his right hand on both the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine and the 500-year-old Peresopnytska Gospel, kissing both sacred books and making the sign of the cross after uttering the presidential oath. The solemn moment was followed by a rousing round of applause from the session hall amid chants of "Yushchenko!"

Constitutional Court Justice Mykola Selivon then placed a golden chain ornament made from the presidential emblem, the trident, around Mr. Yushchenko's neck and handed him the symbol of his authority, a traditional Kozak mace (bulava). A moment before, the Constitutional Court justice had declared in the session hall that there were no legal impediments to the new president assuming his post, and Central Election Commission Chairman Volodymyr Davydovych had announced the official vote tally from the December 26 election.

Among prominent foreign dignitaries on hand for the swearing-in were the presidents of Austria, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia and Moldova, as well as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who led the U.S. delegation, former Czech President Vaclav Havel and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Among leading Ukrainian dignitaries present were outgoing President Kuchma and Ukraine's first president after independence in 1991, Leonid Kravchuk, who sat to the right of the podium, as well as representatives of all the judicial, executive and legislative bodies. Not present was Mr. Yushchenko's rival, Mr. Yanukovych, who later told the press that he had never received the invitation that the Yushchenko side maintained it had sent him.

Before asking everybody to join him to Independence Square, the new Ukrainian president made brief remarks in the Verkhovna Rada in which he thanked the parliamentary body for the resolutions it had passed in the last weeks condemning the fraudulent vote of November 21 and supporting a vote of no-confidence in Mr. Yanukovych, as prime minister, which had forced the government leader to abandon any thought of using more government resources in his favor in the run-up to the final vote.

"You, esteemed national deputies, have defended Ukrainian democracy, defended unity, the sovereignty and independence of our Ukraine," exclaimed Mr. Yushchenko.

The newly elected president then walked the 100 yards from the Verkhovna Rada Building to the Mariinskyi Palace, his new official, if merely symbolic, residence (currently it functions as a museum). In the palace's courtyard Armed Forces Chief of Staff Colonel General Serhii Kyrychenko and dozens of military officials awaited their new commander-in-chief. With a canon salute in his honor echoing off the palace's walls, President Yushchenko reviewed military detachments from the three military branches, the army, navy and Air Force, before entering his presidential limousine for the first time and racing off to Independence Square, less than a mile away.

Mr. Yushchenko made his inaugural speech on Independence Square beneath the rotunda at the base of the 60-meter-high lady of freedom memorial. As Mr. Yushchenko spoke the final words his family joined him. As more than a half million Ukrainians applauded and chanted "Yushchenko!," hundreds of doves with orange ribbons tied to their tails, along with thousands of balloons, were set aloft into the partly sunny Kyiv sky.

The new Ukrainian president and his wife, Kateryna, then returned to Mariinskyi Palace for a private reception for foreign diplomats. At Mr. Yushchenko's request, the luncheon menu included such traditional Ukrainian delicacies as borsch soup with pampushky and varenyky with berries.

The official inaugural ceremony concluded that evening with a concert of classical music at the Palats Ukrainy (Ukraina Palace) concert hall. There, a young boy of about 6 began the performance by ascending the stairs from the audience to the stage and tapping out, key by key, the first notes of "Nas Ne Podolaty," the song that had become the anthem of the Orange Revolution.

Tourists and Kyivans alike celebrated on the streets of the capital from early morning to late at night on this historic day. Kyiv's city center began filling with celebrants as early as 8 a.m. for an inauguration that took place at noon. Many stayed well into the night to view one of the best fireworks displays ever presented here, or so those who were there later said.

For many it was a day spent with friends and family, taking photographs before the remnants of the tent city or before the orange-clad Ukrainian Home, and reminiscing and recalling the parts they had played in the Orange Revolution.

A man standing with his spouse and another couple on a berm overlooking Hrushevsky Street just above Dynamo Stadium told his rapt audience how he had first confronted Yanukovych supporters:

"We were walking here towards the Verkhovna Rada and saw the light blue flags," he explained, as a reporter eavesdropped a few yards away. "When they got about there we smiled, offered them cigarettes and suggested that we speak. Everything was okay. They were friendly."

A bit earlier, two women walking in a park behind the Verkhovna Rada spoke of the young militia officers who were lined up restricting access to an area where a battery of cannons had been placed in preparation for a salute to the new commander-in-chief

"The boys have done well. They are with us," said one elderly lady to the other, speaking as much to the young officers near them as to her friend.

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