ANALYSIS: Procurator files criminal charges against People's Democratic Party (06/19/05)

ANALYSIS

Procurator files criminal charges against People's Democratic Party

by Taras Kuzio
Eurasia Daily Monitor

Criminal charges have been filed against the People's Democratic Party (PDP), led by former Ukrainian prime minister Valeriy Pustovoitenko. PDP's bank accounts have been frozen.

The Ukrainian Procurator General's Office revealed that 1 million hrv (approximately $200,000) was transferred from Ukrainian Railways to the PDP at the start of the 2004 presidential election. A similar amount was also illegally transferred to the Renaissance Party, led by then-Transport Minister Heorhii Kirpa (Ukrayinska Pravda, May 17). Mr. Kirpa committed suicide in December 2004 and has since been accused of channeling funds to presidential candidate and then prime minister Viktor Yanukovych.

The party released a statement reading, "We demand a meeting with President Viktor Yushchenko, and we want Parliament to hold hearings by the Temporary Investigative Commission on Maintaining Political Rights and Liberties" (Ukrayinska Pravda, May 23).

Mr. Pustovoitenko admitted that the PDP did take funds from Ukrainian Railways, but he insists that the transfer was legal. Although state-administrative resources were massively abused in the 2004 election, legislation forbids state enterprises from financing political parties.

At the start of the election, Mr. Pustovoitenko asked the Odesa, Southern and Southwestern Ukrainian Railways branches to donate 1 million hrv for PDP "party development." However, these funds were probably payment for Mr. Pustovoitenko's work in the Yanukovych campaign. The PDP accessed the funds between June 2004 and April 2005 (Channel 1 TV, May 29).

Four senior PDP officials have been arrested. As frequently happens with former Kuchma officials facing charges, Mr. Pustovoitenko became suddenly ill and signed himself into a hospital.

Mr. Pustovoitenko wants the PDP to independently contest the 2006 parliamentary elections. Like other members of the pro-Kuchma For a United Ukraine bloc in the 2002 election, Mr. Pustovoitenko complained that the PDP failed to gain anything from being part of this five-party election bloc.

Mr. Pustovoitenko has claimed that the PDP would make it past the 3 percent threshold in 2006, "and we will have a large representation in local organs of power" (Ukrayinska Pravda, April 16). This is unlikely, as the NDP's ratings are very low and are likely to fall further as the election nears.

The PDP's fortunes have declined, Mr. Pustovoitenko claims, because high-ranking members have been targeted for "political repression." In reality, criminal charges have been laid for election fraud and corruption (Ukrayinska Pravda, March 26). In April PDP Vice-Chairman Serhii Kunitsyn was forced to resign as Crimean prime minister over corruption charges; he was replaced by Yulia Tymoshenko loyalist Anatolii Matvienko.

Mr. Pustovoitenko now believes that it was a mistake to support Mr. Yanukovych's candidacy in the 2004 election. Instead, conveniently overlooking his low ratings, he says the NDP should have supported his own candidacy.

The PDP has seen its influence dwindle since the late 1990s. It was Mr. Kuchma's first attempt at creating a pro-presidential party of power after the 1998 parliamentary elections. Mr. Pustovoitenko himself served as prime minister from 1997 to 1999.

Although many newly elected deputies initially flocked to the PDP, it failed to become a serious party of power. After President Kuchma was re-elected in November 1999, he replaced Mr. Pustovoitenko with Viktor Yushchenko, giving deputies even less incentive to join the NDP.

The PDP's collapse mirrors that of other former pro-Kuchma centrist parties that supported Mr. Yanukovych in the 2004 presidential election. The PDP parliamentary faction was dissolved on April 6, after its membership dropped to only 10 deputies - four short of the minimum to create a faction. The former pro-Kuchma Union faction was also disbanded in late May for having too few members.

The most conspicuous collapse has been that of Viktor Medvedchuk's Social Democratic Party - United (SDPU), which had been all-powerful while Mr. Medvedchuk headed the presidential administration during President Kuchma's last two years in office. The SDPU faction has dropped by half from 39 to only a hard core of 20 deputies.

Trouble is brewing for the SDPU that could reduce its numbers even further. A criminal case has been re-opened against high-profile SDPU member Nestor Shufrych, who stands accused of winning a seat in 2002 by buying votes (Ukrayinska Pravda, May 25). A second criminal case has been launched against Mr. Shufrych over a gas-exploration project that cost the state 56 million hrv.

Another SDPU national deputy, Oleksander Hranovskyi, has been called in three times for questioning in Odesa relating to charges that more than 465 million hrv ($93 million) of state funds have gone missing. A Medvedchuk relative, who was an adviser to the arrested former oblast chairman Zakarpattia, also is being sought for questioning.

Two factions have gained from post-2004 election defections, including Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn's People's Party of Ukraine (PPU), formerly the Agrarian Party, which has more than doubled to 36 deputies. Prime Minister Tymoshenko's faction also has doubled to 34.

Overall, the pro-Kuchma parliamentary majority, which boasted over 240 deputies at its peak in 2002-2003, has collapsed to only 123. Meanwhile, the pro-Yushchenko camp already has 223 deputies drawn from six factions: Our Ukraine, the Ukrainian People's Party, the Tymoshenko bloc, the PPU, the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and the Socialists.

The PPU has agreed to enter a three-party alliance with Mr. Yushchenko's People's Union and the Tymoshenko bloc in the 2006 election. They intend to create a parliamentary majority that, based on current polls and their strength in the current Parliament, should give them close to two-thirds of the seats. The remainder will be held by the Socialists, Communists, and the remnants of the former pro-Kuchma centrists.

Dr. Taras Kuzio is visiting professor at the Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University. The articles above, which originally appeared in The Jamestown Foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor, are reprinted here with permission from the foundation (www.jamestown.org).

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