ANALYSIS: Yushchenko nominates stopgap PM (09/25/05)

ANALYSIS

Yushchenko nominates stopgap PM

by Jan Maksymiuk
RFE/RL Newsline

September 15

Immediately after dismissing the government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on September 8, President Viktor Yushchenko announced that he wanted Dnipropetrovsk Oblast State Administration Chairman Yurii Yekhanurov to form a new Cabinet. On September 13, Mr. Yushchenko submitted the candidacy of Mr. Yekhanurov for the Verkhovna Rada's approval, stressing that he wants to have a "pragmatic government." Mr. Yekhanurov needs at least 226 votes to obtain the job.

Most political observers in Ukraine do not foresee any problems in Mr. Yekhanurov's approval, particularly after Messrs. Yushchenko and Yekhanurov on September 13 signed a Declaration of Unity and Cooperation for the Future with leaders of parliamentary factions comprising nearly 240 deputies. The signatories pledged to pool their efforts "to secure the interests of the Ukrainian people, improve their welfare, consolidate society and boost Ukraine's authority in the world." Making a new Cabinet get down to work without delay is no doubt a priority in this endeavor.

Mr. Yekhanurov is widely seen in Ukraine as an experienced and efficient administrator without political ambitions. Therefore, many assert, he is the best choice President Yushchenko could made for the six months that remain until the parliamentary elections in March, when the political scene in Ukraine may undergo a considerable rearrangement.

In other words, Mr. Yekhanurov is seen as a "stopgap" prime minister whose main concerns will be to draft a 2006 budget, secure a tolerable price for Russian gas supplies next year and push through the Parliament what remains of the previous Cabinet's package of bills intended to facilitate Ukraine's access to the World Trade Organization by the end of this year.

Mr. Yekhanurov, an ethnic Buryat, was born in a village in Sakha (Yakutia) in 1948. His family moved to Ukraine in 1963. In Kyiv, Mr. Yekhanurov graduated from a construction school in 1967 and from the Institute of People's Economy in 1973. He climbed the career ladder in the construction industry to the post of deputy director for economic issues of Kyiv's main construction directorate.

After Ukraine gained independence in 1991, Mr. Yekhanurov moved to the Cabinet of Ministers, where he initially served as a departmental director and then was promoted to the post of deputy economy minister.

In 1994-1997 he oversaw the initial stage of Ukraine's privatization as head of the State Property Fund. Subsequently he served as economy minister and deputy chief of the presidential administration. At that time he belonged to the People's Democratic Party, a "party of power" that provided political support to President Leonid Kuchma.

In 1998 Mr. Yekhanurov was elected to the Verkhovna Rada from a one-seat constituency in Zhytomyr Oblast. From 1999 to 2001 he worked as first vice prime minister in a Cabinet headed by Mr. Yushchenko. When Mr. Yushchenko was dismissed as prime minister in 2001, President Kuchma employed Mr. Yekhanurov as first deputy cheif of the presidential administration.

In November 2001, Mr. Yekhanurov left Mr. Kuchma for good and tied his political fate closely to that of Mr. Yushchenko. He became deputy chief of the election campaign of Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc and was elected to Parliament in March 2002 from Our Ukraine's list. In 2004, Mr. Yekhanurov became deputy chief of Mr. Yushchenko's presidential election campaign. In March 2005, he was elected head of the executive committee of the Our Ukraine People's Union, Mr. Yushchenko's "party of power." In April, President Yushchenko appointed Mr. Yekhanurov chairman of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast State Administration after his predecessor was accused of having backed Mr. Yushchenko's rival in the presidential election.

Perhaps it is also not without significance for President Yushchenko in his current situation that Mr. Yekhanurov is one of the very few in the Ukrainian president's entourage who back Ukraine's membership in the Single Economic Space with Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. "This is a businesslike man, a man who deeply understands economics and economic relations, including those between states," Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin said of Mr. Yekhanurov last week.

In other words, Mr. Yekhanurov appears to be the opposite of the politically overambitious and charismatic Ms. Tymoshenko, whom President Yushchenko accused of focusing on "PR activities" rather than on the presidential election program. Mr. Yekhanurov seems to be a man who will easily accept his place in the shadow of Mr. Yushchenko. But this may have drawbacks for the Ukrainian president as well, because now voters will be more likely to see Mr. Yushchenko - not Mr. Yekhanurov - as the real leader of the government.

If things in Ukraine continue to go poorly, President Yushchenko will not be able to lay all of the blame on Mr. Yekhanurov and fire him as the main culprit, as he did with Ms. Tymoshenko.

Jan Maksymiuk is the Belarus and Ukraine specialist on the staff of RFE/RL Newsline.

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