EDITORIAL: Yanukovych returns (08/06/06)

EDITORIAL

"I do understand that in the east and in the west of Ukraine results of the March vote [the parliamentary elections], as well as any candidate for prime minister, arouse much controversy. I urge the nation to accept this decision, for we may now be given a unique chance to help the two banks of the Dnipro unite in understanding."

- President Viktor Yushchenko, announcing that he would nominate Viktor Yanukovych for prime minister.

Yanukovych returns

On August 3 at 2 a.m. - two hours past deadline - President Viktor Yushchenko told the nation that he had decided to name his opponent in the acrimonious 2004 presidential election, Viktor Yanukovych, as prime minister. And, thus, the archenemy of the Orange Revolution is expected to become PM when the Verkhovna Rada votes on August 4 (after this week's issue of our newspaper has gone to press).

This latest twist in Ukraine's political life, while not a complete surprise, is nonetheless shocking to many who had watched the Orange Revolution unfold. For, as Zerkalo Nedeli analyst Yulia Mostova wrote: "... gluing the country together doesn't mean trading one's principles."

What galls us most is that it didn't have to be this way. If only Mr. Yushchenko and Our Ukraine had allowed Yulia Tymoshenko to be nominated for prime minister... If only the Orange allies had formed an alliance before the parliamentary elections... if only President Yushchenko had considered the good of the Ukrainian nation above the good of his cronies... Perhaps the Orange coalition could have been preserved.

Also on August 3, President Yushchenko, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksander Moroz, Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov, Mr. Yanukovych (Party of the Regions), Roman Bezsmertnyi (Our Ukraine), Vasyl Tsushko (Socialist Party) and Petro Symonenko (Communist Party) signed a Declaration of National Unity that charted a course for foreign and domestic policies.

According to news reports, there had been four major stumbling blocs: the language issue, the unitary structure of Ukraine (vs. federalization), European (EU) and Euro-Atlantic (NATO) integration, and activity within the Single Economic Space. Mr. Yushchenko claims the declaration largely accepted his program, but there were meaningful nuances in the wording altered from the original draft. Yulia Tymoshenko, who declined to sign, said the president had agreed to concessions and comprises on the very issues he had called matters of principle.

The declaration, which in Ukrainian is called "Universal Natsionalnoyi Yednosti" (with the word "universal" apparently expressing a hope that all political factions would agree to it, rather than reflecting the ultimate reality), is to become the basis of a new parliamentary coalition to be called the National Unity Coalition. That coalition, it is assumed, will form Ukraine's new government.

Mr. Yushchenko was hopeful: "We have a unique chance enabling Ukraine's Parliament to work stably for five years. Will the political forces use this chance? Well, that's a question for them. But the president extends his hand to Parliament ... and gives it a chance to carry out these policies."

At the very least, the deal announced on August 3 breaks the political deadlock in Ukraine. What it all means for the future, only time will tell.

To be sure, many observers will now be asking if the Orange Revolution has failed. But the Orange Revolution was not about one man - or even two. And, even the Orange Revolutionaries who spoke of what they saw as President Yushchenko's act of betrayal, know that Ukraine today is different from Ukraine before their successful revolution.

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