LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (04/16/06)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Hamlet, Joan of Arc and two Viktors

Dear Editor:

Ukraine's leaders are definitely in a quandary. After the parliamentary elections in late March, President Viktor Yushchenko has a lot to think about. Even Hamlet would probably be asking: "to be or not to be?"

Mr. Yushchenko's old rival, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and his Party of the Regions gave the president and Our Ukraine a severe beating in this election. Mr. Yanukovych's bloc won the majority of seats (as expected) with 32.12 percent of the vote and a total of 186 seats in the new parliament. Is this Viktor really the true victor of these elections? This remains to be seen.

Yulia Tymoshenko, Mr. Yushchenko's old ally and another former prime minister, truly surprised everyone when her Bloc came in second with an unexpected 22.27 percent of the vote (clearly a protest vote against the Yushchenko bloc). Close to 5.6 million votes have now put 129 seats of the Tymoshenko bloc into parliament. "Joan" (Yulia) is in her glory for now. You may ask: What next? Will they unite forces again? Will they rekindle the Orange Revolution?

Meanwhile Our Ukraine, the pro-presidential bloc led by Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov, suffered a humiliating defeat, coming in third with only 13.9 percent of the vote, leaving Our Ukraine with 89 seats in the Verkhovna Rada. This is forcing Messrs. Yekhanurov and Yushchenko to form a new coalition government in weeks to come. What bloc or blocs will Our Ukraine pick to go with is the $64,000 question? Will it be Mr. Yanukovych's bloc or Ms. Tymoshenko's and Oleksander Moroz's? Who will be the new prime minister?

The other two parties to make it into the Verkhovna Rada are Mr. Moroz's Socialist Party, with 5.6 percent and 33 deputies, and the Communists, with 3.6 percent and 21 seats. The stage is now set. The question still remains, who will be the actors?

Chances are pretty good that Mr. Yanukovych's Party of the Regions will be facing off against a combination of the Tymoshenko Bloc, Our Ukraine and the Socialists, but only if the Orange coalition manages to come to a mutual understanding. What is clear is that the country is divided along ideological and regional lines, and will remain this way for quite some time. What is not clear is in which direction will Mr. Yushchenko go? Will he go with Moscow or with Europe?

Two weeks after Ukraine's election, the electorate is still captivated by this drama. The elections were a victory for the democratic process in Ukraine. What is very clear is that the Communists took the worst punishment in this election and that Mr. Yanukovych's bloc also lost more than 15 percent of its support since the last election.

The fact that only five parties remain in parliament is amazing. There were nearly 100 parties only a few years ago.

Now it's up to President Yushchenko and Our Ukraine to make the final decision before the next act. To be or not to be? Yulia or Yanukovych? Moscow or Europe? Even the best political analysts are in a quandary. Whatever the outcome, Ukrainians have a free country and will do whatever it takes to keep it that way.

President Yushchenko, meanwhile, will have to be very careful. After all, it's the people who put him in power.

Stephan Welhasch
Berkeley Heights, N.J.

GOP strategists and Ukraine

Dear Editor:

Paul Manafort and Rick Ahearn, former U.S. Republican Party strategists, represent the height of American free enterprise - the very essence of the entrepreneurial spirit that catapulted our country to world supremacy. Where else could a couple of former U.S. government apparatchiks pounding the Washington pavement be brought into a foreign country (Ukraine) by its richest businessman (Rynat Akhmetov) who made his money deals so shady that he has to stay in the shade as much as possible, take up the cause of a former Russian-linked criminal-turned-politician (Viktor Yanukovych) who got booted out by an entire country sick of graft and corruption, and return the same back to the good graces of his people?

Ukrainians, c'mon! You gotta love it. How better to turn Ukrainian politics into its American equivalent. Think about it, the blue party is coming out with lines like "What happened was that [Mr Yanukovych] felt ill-used and very aggrieved by what happened last time [by his Russian handlers] and clearly went in the opposite direction." Man, it's like being inside the Beltway. A politically reincarnated Mr. Yanukovych has given up addressing supporters in prison slang, and now speaks in Ukrainian, as well as Russian. They scrubbed that baby clean.

Besides, think of the bright side. We now have Mrs. Yanukovych back to spout off about Viktor Yushchenko's supporters being high on "psychotropic oranges."

I think we should have party strategists consider teaming her up with Bagdad Bob, remember him? The former Iraqi information minister under Hussein ("I blame Al-Jazeera - they are marketing for the Americans!" or "God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis."). I understand he's looking for something to do. The two of them can provide some light counterpoint to a hell of a situation.

Alexander J. Balaban
Roselle Park, N.J.

A thank-you, and a correction

Dear Editor:

First of all, I want to thank Zenon Zawada for the excellent articles written about the recent elections in Ukraine. He was able to take a very large amount of information and, in a very short time, present the news in a factual and concise manner, in well-written articles.

I'm sure with the large amount of information, that minor a "oops" might occur and can be expected. Please note one correction to the "International observers say elections were free and fair" article in the April 2 issue of The Weekly. I was listed as the leader of the team of nine observers to Kharkiv. The actual team leader was Ihor Diaczun of Cleveland. I was the individual who reported about our group at the UCCA de-briefing session on Tuesday, March 28, as Mr. Diaczun was unable to attend due to a previous commitment.

Mr. Diaczun coordinated and led our group very well, keeping in touch with all teams throughout the day, to make sure things were all right, ready to assist with any problems. As this was my first experience as an elections observer, I am thankful for his leadership.

I would appreciate if you could please make a correction as to the leader of the Kharkiv team in a future issue.

Keep up the great work!

Jaroslav G. Zawadiwsky
Hinckley, Ohio

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