Orange Revolution not over, declares Yellow Pora party (10/09/05)

Orange Revolution not over, declares Yellow Pora party

by Vladyslav Pavlov
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - The Orange Revolution isn't over, declared the leader of Yellow Pora, Vladyslav Kaskiv, at a September 27 press conference.

Rather, it created the foundation upon which future political action can occur, he explained.

Therefore, Yellow Pora has called upon all Ukrainians who helped create phenomenon of the maidan to defend its values and principles by uniting "all honest political forces" into a political coalition for the March 2006 parliamentary elections.

"The citizens of Ukraine came out on the maidan not for (Viktor) Yushchenko, and not for (Yulia) Tymoshenko, but for a decent life and an ethical government," Mr. Kaskiv said.

Yellow Pora hasn't ruled out joining the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, he said.

The political party has issued its own memorandum, in which it states that Ukraine's political crisis arose from the inability of Mr. Yushchenko to be an authoritative leader.

As a result, the president failed to put Ukraine's interests above the interests of business groups and the personal ambitions of his closest entourage, the Yellow Pora memorandum stated.

Critics of the Ukrainian president, including Ms. Tymoshenko, have accused him of allowing former National Security and Defense Council Secretary Petro Poroshenko, among others, to abuse his office and use it to benefit his business interests.

Following the Orange Revolution, Pora split into two factions: Yellow Pora emerged as the political party led by Mr. Kaskiv, and Black Pora is a strictly grassroots organization.

Yellow Pora's leaders criticized the Yushchenko-Yanukovych memorandum, which has ensured that many, if not all, of those who falsified votes in the election will remain free from punishment.

Specifically, the Yushchenko-Yanukovych memorandum would provide immunity to city council deputies, who were among those most active in falsifying votes.

"It's very strange that President Yushchenko wanted to separate business and power, and yet for what reason did he put his signature not next to his friends', but next to a person who hardly personifies professionalism and separation of business and power?" said Andrii Yusov, a Pora leader.

Yellow Pora called for Mr. Yushchenko to veto the bill "On the Status of City Council Deputies," which would essentially grant city council deputies the same immunity against criminal prosecution that national deputies have.

As it currently stands, election falsifiers have remained free while bandits and corrupt politicians still occupy city council offices, Mr. Kaskiv said. The president has forgotten the maidan's slogan, "Bandits to jail," he said.

"I'd have a horrible dream if in eight months not one of the falsifiers of the vote won't have punishment," Mr. Kaskiv said. "Even Ivan Rizak, who himself led the bandits into the streets, (Serhii) Kivalov, (Viktor) Medvedchuk."

The Yellow Pora memorandum blamed the economic crisis on the prior government's policy of "social populism," a reference to increased benefits such as pensions and government interference to lower the prices of gasoline and meat, among other commodities.

Yellow Pora urged adoption of its seven-point Anti-Crisis Plan, adopted before the September 8 Cabinet of Ministers firings, which calls for firing and punishing all those engaged in corruption, enacting radical judicial reforms and reprivatizing illegally privatized property.

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