EDITORIAL: Coalition chaos (06/18/06)

EDITORIAL

Coalition chaos

Back on April 2 we wrote in this space that Our Ukraine's decision on a coalition that would form the parliamentary majority had been postponed until April 7. At that time, of course, it was a mere days after the March 26 parliamentary elections in which Viktor Yanukovych's Party of the Regions emerged with a plurality (33.12 percent), though not a majority of votes. The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc came in second (22.27 percent), with Our Ukraine, President Viktor Yushchenko's political bloc, in third (13.94 percent) and the Socialist Party of Ukraine in fourth (5.67 percent).

The day after the elections Ms. Tymoshenko called on the president to recreate the Orange alliance in the Verkhovna Rada. The partners of the Orange Revolution negotiated for weeks, with some hopeful and some not-so-hopeful signs along the way. If the words of the partners were to be believed, they all wanted to establish an Orange coalition. Yet, there was always one impediment or another.

Now, 11 weeks later, things are no better. In fact, they're probably worse. The latest news from Ukraine is that the Party of the Regions is close to forming a majority coalition with certain members of Our Ukraine and possibly the Socialist Party. Mr. Yanukovych claimed on Thursday, June 15 (the day this week's issue was completed) that he already has the signatures of a majority and that he expects the accord to be signed by Tuesday, June 20. Furthermore, Roman Zvarych of Our Ukraine announced on June 15 that the bloc had begun formal talks with the Regions Party.

While previously the hold-up to Our Ukraine's approval of an Orange coalition appeared to be Ms. Tymoshenko's desire to once again become prime minister, now it appears to be Oleksander Moroz's desire to once again become chairman of the Verkhovna Rada. (We say "appears" because few people know what is really going on behind the scenes.) It seems that Our Ukraine had reluctantly accepted the concept of a Tymoshenko prime ministership. But now there was another obstacle - one previously not on the radar screen. However, Mr. Moroz has stated that he would sacrifice the Rada chair if the distribution of all posts was based "on a proportionate system."

President Yushchenko replied that he agrees with this principle, but feels that it calls for an Our Ukraine deputy to be the Rada chairman. Furthermore, he said that Ms. Tymoshenko and Mr. Moroz were divvying up positions they had no right to claim.

Back in April President Yushchenko had stated that an alliance with the Party of the Regions was "unacceptable and not understandable to me." Soon thereafter he said that what was most important in forming a coalition was agreement on a set of coalition principles covering such key topics as NATO, the European Union and the World Trade Organization; next he said it was necessary to define exactly how a coalition would function.

Now - three Verkhovna Rada session postponements later - Our Ukraine appears to be turning toward the Regions, never mind that the two do not agree on Ukraine's cooperation with NATO or its participation in the Single Economic Space, not to mention the issue of the Russian language's status in Ukraine and the issue of federalism. And who knows how they could possibly function together. And so, the Parliament is in recess, again.

President Yushchenko and his cohorts continue their coalition games as the country flounders. "Hanba" - Shame!

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