Justice minister and Communist Party spar over plebiscite on Ukraine's future (02/25/96)

Justice minister and Communist Party spar over plebiscite on Ukraine's future

by Marta Kolomayets
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Despite warnings from Ukraine's Justice Minister Serhiy Holovaty and officials from the Central Electoral Commission, who have called the campaign illegal, Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko continues gathering signatures in support of a referendum on Ukraine's political future.

Mr. Symonenko told Interfax-Ukraine on February 21 that "over 2.5 million people have already signed questionnaires from the Communist Party," and he hopes to get around 10 million signatures.

According to Communist Party leaders, questions proposed for their referendum include the status of Russian as a state language, a political course for society based on principles of communism, as well accession to a "voluntary alliance of brotherly peoples, of equal, independent states, which have been created on the territory of the former Soviet Union." Other questions offered in this poll concern the need for the office of president, and the nature of Ukraine's national symbols.

Although the Communists and some Socialist groups regard this referendum as one that identifies basic principles for Ukraine's new constitution, the actual questionnaire does not even mention the draft document, which is nearly complete and should be presented to the Parliament next month for review.

"At a time when the Constitutional Accord between the president and the Parliament is in force, no referendums of any kind - except of course, a referendum on adopting the new constitution - can be conducted in Ukraine," noted Mr. Holovaty in a recent interview in Nezavisimost (Independence), a Kyiv newspaper.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Justice on February 3 points out that in accordance with Ukrainian law, and in compliance with Article 61 of the Constitutional Accord: "Until a new Ukrainian Constitution is adopted, neither party (Parliament or the president) will submit any questions for consideration via an all-Ukrainian referendum, consultative referendum, or national poll, except those matters which concern the adoption of the new Ukrainian Constitution, the text of which shall be mutually agreed upon by both parties."

"I question the motives behind an action to collect signatures to hold a plebiscite on whether or not a Soviet system should exist, at a time when the draft constitution is almost complete, a draft constitution that will be reviewed by the Parliament, which clearly outlines what kind of society Ukraine is building," said the justice minister.

Mr. Holovaty explained that the citizens of Ukraine can have their say once a referendum is called on the constitution, but strongly disapproved of the current action to have a pre-referendum referendum, labeling this action an attempt to cause political instability among the populace.

President Leonid Kuchma's press service issued a statement in which the Ukrainian leader called the action "the leftists' exploitation of the current economic situation."

"I believe that the majority of our country's citizens want to live in an independent Ukraine," said President Kuchma.

The fact that the Communist Party would even consider holding a plebiscite that calls for the creation of another state or union, is criminal, observed Mr. Holovaty. Indeed, in civil societies, it would be labeled an act of treason.

In the statement issued by the Justice Ministry, Mr. Holovaty called on all responsible government agencies and ministries to issue statements assessing the Communist Party's action. He also appealed to political parties and civic organizations to refrain from any actions that could cause political instability until a new constitution is adopted.

But Mr. Symonenko, who would need 3 million signatures to conduct a referendum, it it were legal, has his own plans. He explained that Ukraine's Communist Party needs to conduct the poll "to receive the people's approval for a communist course for Ukraine, for the construction of an independent democratic state which preserves guarantees of social insurance for the population."

On February 19, the Council of Ukraine's National-Democratic Parties issued a statement of protest describing the referendum as an "anti-national action of the leftist forces."

The statement, signed by Rukh Chairman Vyacheslav Chornovil, Ukrainian Republican Party Chairman Bohdan Yaroshynsky, Democratic Party Chairman Volodymyr Yavorivsky and council coordinator Kostiantyn Morozov, calls the Communist plan "an illegal action questioning the idea of Ukraine's independence and pushing it back toward a totalitarian-communist regime."

The national democrats also demanded that the government evaluate the actions of these left-wing leaders and "hold legally responsible the organizers of activity targeted against Ukrainian statehood."

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