EDITORIAL: Coalition coalescence (06/25/06)

EDITORIAL

Coalition coalescence

After three months of negotiations following the March 26 parliamentary elections, the coalition that led the Orange Revolution has been reconstituted to form a parliamentary majority. Now, hopefully, the Verkhovna Rada can get back on track and the government of Ukraine, whatever shape it ultimately takes, can get back to the business of governing. Certainly the millions who stood up for their rights as citizens of a fledgling democracy during the winter of 2004 deserve better - much better - than what they've gotten thus far.

The newly announced Orange coalition brings together three erstwhile partners: the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, with 129 seats in the new Verkhovna Rada; Our Ukraine, with 81 seats; and the Socialist Party of Ukraine, with 33 seats. That's a total of 243 seats in the 450-seat Rada.

Gone is the idea of a "grand coalition" that could have united all the forces in the Rada, including the Party of the Regions (which has 186 seats) led by Viktor Yanukovych, the very force responsible for falsifying the 2004 presidential election. The Regions and the much smaller Communist Party (21 seats) now constitute the opposition.

Indeed, Yulia Tymoshenko, speaking in Parliament on June 22, said "You [the Party of the Regions] wanted to replace the slogan of the Orange Revolution 'Bandits will sit in jail' with 'Bandits will sit in ministerial chairs.' Nothing will come of it."

She also had some more inspiring words for the people of Ukraine: "... today we begin the struggle for our nation to become democratic, to be cleansed from the dirt of corruption, and for us to be proud of our Ukraine, as it was hoped for by our grandfathers, fathers and all those who fought for independence."

And let no one doubt this will be a struggle.

The Orange coalition deal was sealed on June 23, just short of the constitutional deadline. Zenon Zawada of our Kyiv Press Bureau cautions that it is a fragile creation, having only a 17-vote margin in Parliament, and, what is even more worrisome, one that could still fall apart over Our Ukraine's decision to nominate Petro Poroshenko, former secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, for Rada chairman. Our Ukraine, it seems, is still focused on Yulia, and now that an agreement has been reached that she is to become the prime minister, Our Ukraine is trying to limit Ms. Tymoshenko's power or at least offer a counterbalance in the person of Mr. Poroshenko - her nemesis from her first tour of duty as PM. Stay tuned on June 27, when the Rada is expected to vote on these two key positions.

And then there is the issue of NATO. Ukraine's membership is a declared goal of the Yushchenko administration, but it is also opposed by one of the renewed coalition's partners, the Socialist Party. Thus, the coalition agreement calls for a national referendum on Ukraine's entry into the alliance. Clearly, there's much work to be done to get the Ukrainian public behind NATO membership.

As The Independent emphasized in its editorial of June 14, a week before the coalition had coalesced, "It is high time for Mr. Yushchenko, Ms. Tymoshenko and the members of the new Parliament to sit down in a constructive atmosphere and plan together for Ukraine's future. Too much time has been lost, and a mountain of work awaits." The key word here, from our perspective: constructive. For, as the prime minister-to-be noted on June 22, the new coalition will chart "Ukraine's course for many years ahead."

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