Parliament confirms Pustovoitenko as PM (07/20/97)

Parliament confirms Pustovoitenko as PM

by Khristina Lew
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Acting Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Valerii Pustovoitenko was narrowly confirmed as independent Ukraine's sixth prime minister on July 16 by a contentious Verkhovna Rada in a vote of 226 for, 91 against, 26 abstentions and 11 national deputies not voting.

The 50-year-old former chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk City Council and its Executive Committee drew support largely from centrist and left-centrist factions in Ukraine's Parliament. The Communist and Rukh factions refused to endorse Mr. Pustovoitenko's candidacy.

The 226 national deputies who confirmed the new head of government two days before adjourning for the summer constituted the constitutional majority plus one of the Verkhovna Rada votes required for such approval.

President Leonid Kuchma, who attended the confirmation hearing and vote with the entire Cabinet of Ministers, hailed Mr. Pustovoitenko's election as a "positive move," noting that the vote split the Verkhovna Rada into "those who support the government and those who do not."

In his 20-minute address to the morning session of Parliament, Mr. Pustovoitenko said that, if confirmed as prime minister, he would focus on forming a "professional" government, repaying back wages and restructuring Ukraine's oil and gas industry. He said the priorities of his government would be to reform the tax system, develop the agro-industrial complex, continue privatization and develop small- and mid-sized industries.

For over one hour following his address, national deputies queried Mr. Pustovoitenko about his intentions. His association with the city of Dnipropetrovsk was repeatedly brought up. Mr. Pustovoitenko put the issue to rest amid laughter from the floor by explaining, "I was born in Mykolaiv Oblast and grew up in Odesa. My wife is from Dnipropetrovsk, and when we got married, what was I to do?"

Leaders of parliamentary factions and groups were then permitted three minutes to either support or oppose Mr. Pustovoitenko's candidacy. Former President Leonid Kravchuk, representing the Constitutional Center faction, also elicited laughter when he endorsed Mr. Pustovoitenko. "He is always even-keeled. I should know - I gave him a job, then I took his job away," he said. Mr. Pustovoitenko served as the minister of the Cabinet of Ministers under President Kravchuk in April-September 1993.

The Agrarian Party faction and Unity group also supported Mr. Pustovoitenko, while the Reform faction supported the idea of no prime minister. The concept of no prime minister gathered steam when Natalia Vitrenko, a member of the Progressive Socialist Party, called for amending the Constitution to permit President Kuchma to head the government. She decried President Kuchma's reform efforts and suggested that no prime minister could implement them.

Parliament Chairman Oleksander Moroz, who had opened the morning session by greeting the president, Cabinet members and national deputies on the anniversary of the July 16, 1990, adoption of Ukraine's Declaration on State Sovereignty, brought order to the floor by reminding national deputies that, according to the Constitution, the president cannot head the government. Mr. Moroz then announced his support for Mr. Pustovoitenko, calling him the "optimum" candidate for prime minister. The vote to confirm was taken at 1:18 p.m.

Valerii Pustovoitenko was born on February 23, 1947, in the village of Adamivka in Mykolaiv Oblast. He worked as a lathe operator at the October Revolution factory in Odesa before serving in the army. In 1975 he graduated from the Dnipropetrovsk Construction Engineering Institute. In 1984-1986 he served as the head of the Dniprovazhbudmekhanizatsia industrial association.

In 1986 Mr. Pustovoitenko served as head of the Babushkynskyi Raion Council in Dnipropetrovsk. In 1989 he was elected head of the Dnipropetrovsk City Council. He was a national deputy to the Verkhovna Rada, and worked as the vice-president of the Ukrainian State Building Corp. Expobank in Kyiv. In 1994 he was appointed minister of the Cabinet of Ministers, a position that oversees the work of the Cabinet.

He is considered a close advisor to President Kuchma, and is a member of the National Democratic Party of Ukraine. After he was confirmed as prime minister, Mr. Pustovoitenko said he would consider leaving the NDPU.

Since declaring independence in 1991, Ukraine has had five prime ministers and three acting prime ministers.

| Home Page |