As political crisis continues in Ukraine, Yushchenko convenes roundtable meeting (07/30/06)

As political crisis continues in Ukraine, Yushchenko convenes roundtable meeting

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - With his country mired in a political crisis, President Viktor Yushchenko invited the leaders of Ukraine's five parliamentary factions to find a way out during a roundtable meeting held on July 27 at the Presidential Secretariat.

As their solution, both Mr. Yushchenko and acting Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov proposed creating a new coalition government, raising the possibility that Our Ukraine may unite with the Party of the Regions and the Socialist Party of Ukraine.

"I am convinced that a moment of truth arrives in a nation's political life," Mr. Yushchenko told his colleagues. "Now's the time to make a decision."

The Ukrainian president called upon the five leaders of the Parliament's factions to put aside their differences and personal ambitions, and unite for the sake of Ukraine by signing a government manifesto.

"We should unite around ensuring national sovereignty, integrity of our borders and territory, embodiment of economic transformation, guaranteeing all democratic rights and freedoms that were achieved," he stated.

Verkhovna Rada Chairman and Socialist Parry leader Oleksander Moroz said during the roundtable that he also favors a broad coalition that includes his party.

Earlier that day, Our Ukraine leaders Roman Bezsmertnyi and Petro Poroshenko began negotiations with the Party of the Regions, while Mr. Yushchenko met individually with Yulia Tymoshenko of the eponymous bloc.

The nationally televised roundtable discussions revealed that the Orange Revolution's leaders still are failing to find common ground.

Ms. Tymoshenko, who also heads her bloc's parliamentary faction, rejected signing any manifesto that involved all five factions, calling such a union "exotic" and stating that she remains unconvinced it would do any good.

Instead, she maintained her stance that President Yushchenko should dismiss the Verkhovna Rada and that the Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine blocs should unite to run in pre-term elections.

Ms. Tymoshenko rejects any coalition with the Party of the Regions.

"We won't enter any broad coalition under any conditions," she said. "I am against business becoming politics, and definitively against politics becoming business."

Mr. Yushchenko said he's still keeping on the table the option of dismissing Parliament but he's reluctant to do so because he admits it could result in an even worse conflict in society.

The participants in the televised roundtable also included Mr. Bezsmertnyi of Our Ukraine, Petro Symonenko of the Communist Party and Viktor Yanukovych of the Party of the Regions.

In an attempt to buy time, Mr. Yushchenko said he would wait until August 2 to make a decision on Anti-Crisis Coalition's nomination of Mr. Yanukovych as prime minister and hold negotiations in the meantime.

He also said he would not compromise on the right to select the ministers of internal affairs, defense and foreign affairs, the procurator general and the chair of the Security Service of Ukraine.

While Mr. Yushchenko continued to weigh his options, the tensions between the Russian-leaning Party of the Regions and the pro-Western Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc intensified as thousands of their supporters continued to hold marches and protests in Kyiv, sometimes even clashing with each other.

Ms. Tymoshenko continued to lead the demand for the dismissal of Parliament and new elections - an outcome not favored by the majority of Ukrainians, according to public opinion polls.

On July 24 she announced that 125 national deputies in her parliamentary faction would resign, with the hope that enough Our Ukraine deputies would join in order to force a dismissal of Parliament for lack of a quorum.

Ms. Tymoshenko would need 151 resignations, or one-third of the Verkhovna Rada, but so far no Our Ukraine deputies have joined the Tymoshenko Bloc in this action.

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