Turning the pages back... April 14, 2002 (04/09/06)

Turning the pages back...

April 14, 2002

Four years ago, our issue dated April 14, 2002, carried an article on the parliamentary election results of that year. Volodymyr Lytvyn, who was chairman of Leonid Kuchma's For a United Ukraine bloc, suggested that his bloc would have 180 seats in the Vekhovna Rada, causing him to search for the 46 additional votes necessary to form a majority. At that time, there was a 4 percent minimum in order to have membership in the Verkhovna Rada. Six political organizations succeeded: For a United Ukraine with 11.81 percent, Our Ukraine with 23.55 percent, the Communist Party with 20.01 percent, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc with 7.24 percent, the Socialist Party of Ukraine with 6.88 percent and the Social Democratic Party - United with 6.27 percent.

There were 145 national deputies elected in single-mandate districts who assured Mr. Lytvyn they would join For a United Ukraine. In addition to these seats, 35 had been won in by-party voting, giving the bloc 180 seats in the Rada. The formation of a majority would, according to Mr. Lytvyn, be based on three "axiomatic" positions: no majority could be formed without the participation of For a United Ukraine; the bloc should act as an initiator and coordinator of parliamentary coalition talks; and the majority must be formed on a platform of market-orientation, democratic reforms and European integration.

On April 10, members of Our Ukraine said that a coalition between their group and the For a United Ukraine bloc was impossible because of extensive antagonisms between leading personalities in each group and contradictions in their fundamental approach to government. However, President Kuchma said that he would actively support the formation of a permanent majority in Parliament that was centered on For a United Ukraine bloc. Political analysts said that a likely union between the Social Democratic Party - United and the Communist Party would join Mr. Lytvyn's bloc to give it the additional seats needed to attain 226 votes.

In response to the formation of this mega-bloc, leaders of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, the Socialist Party and Our Ukraine began talks to form a democratically based, oppositionist majority. A statement released by the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc on April 10 in response to Mr. Lytvyn's assertions, criticized the remarks as "a provocation against Ukrainian citizenry, human rights and freedoms," because the bloc "used administrative resources, repression and punitive measures to fight the opposition, forged election returns and manipulated public opinion."

Political analyst Volodymyr Polokhalo stated that, after the elections, President Kuchma met with groups of non-aligned, newly chosen candidates from single-mandate districts to convince them of the benefits of joining For a United Ukraine. Those who resisted were invited for one-on-one discussions with the president, according to Mr. Polokhalo. He went on to say that many national deputies would be forced to "discard their promises and their programs" and join Mr. Kuchma's mega-bloc - a "disturbing development" that would give the faction power way beyond that which the electorate voted it.

Source: "Pro-Kuchma bloc claims to have 180 seats in Rada" by Roman Woronowycz, Kyiv Press Bureau, The Ukrainian Weekly, April 14, 2002, Vol. LXX, No.15.

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