Translated material
Turtle Compromise
Ukrainian speaker wants to extend the crisis until 2011
Yesterday, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CC) , which is considering the legality of the presidential decree on the dissolution of the Rada of April 2, moved to the closed part of the hearings. The judges, who are still closely surrounded by demonstrations by blue-white supporters of the ruling coalition and orange oppositionists, complained that it was “impossible to work” in conditions of continuous “political bravado.” According to the regulations, the Constitutional Court is given five days to make a final verdict, but the court may not meet this deadline. And if any of the parties does not agree with the decision of the Constitutional Court, it is likely to be dissolved. As Vladimir Shapoval, the presidential representative in the Constitutional Court, said yesterday, “we need to think about whether post-Soviet Ukraine needs a constitutional court with such powers.”Meanwhile, Justice Minister Alexander Lavrynovych, who represents the interests of the ruling coalition and the Rada, said yesterday that the Supreme Administrative Court banned the holding of early elections on May 27, announced by the president. And therefore, during this period they will not take place “under any circumstances.” As Mr. Lavrinovich stated, the court’s decision “cannot be appealed.” “If the Constitutional Court recognizes the decree as correct, then it will be necessary to resolve the issue of the timing of the elections,” the minister said.
True, the press service of the Supreme Administrative Court itself stated yesterday that the court did not make decisions to ban the May 27 elections. The court explained that on April 23, the appeal of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (Yulya Tymoshenko Bloc) (BYuT) to recognize the illegal inactivity of the Central Election Commission, which has not yet formed district commissions, was rejected as overdue. At the same time, the court, in a separate verdict, decided to “bring to the attention of the president” the facts of the CEC’s inactivity, which cast doubt on the holding of early elections within the time frame determined by the presidential decree. The President and the Central Election Commission are ordered to “take the necessary measures.” The ban on holding early elections was not the subject of consideration in the Supreme Administrative Court, the press service of the department claims. However, Ukrainian political scientist Vadim Karasev told Vremya Novostei that “early elections are a problem of constitutional justice and constitutional law, so in any case, the opposition is unlikely to consider the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court legitimate.”
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych promises that the crisis is “a short-term phenomenon and everything will be resolved this month.” The deputy leader of the faction of the prime minister's Party of Regions in the Rada, Mikhail Chechetov, confirmed the day before yesterday that the coalition is “ready for a compromise, including if a consolidated decision on the advisability of going to elections is approved.”
In the meantime, the parties are bargaining. The President calls early elections an indispensable condition for resolving the crisis. Behind the scenes, Viktor Yushchenko allegedly even demands to suspend the work of the Constitutional Court, claims the “regional” Vasily Khara. In turn, the coalition considers the starting point of negotiations to be the agreement of the conflicting parties to implement any decision of the Constitutional Court.
Yesterday, Rada Speaker Alexander Moroz , whose Socialist Party has virtually no chance of getting back into parliament, said during a visit to Lithuania that there will be no early parliamentary elections in Ukraine, and all controversial issues will be resolved as a result of consultations. “The elections will take place in 2011,” Mr. Moroz said confidently. He also said that the scenario of replacing him as Speaker of the Rada with the leader of the Party of Regions faction, coordinator of the parliamentary majority, Raisa Bogatyreva, was being developed, but was not the subject of negotiations. Alexander Moroz noted that there were a lot of similar proposals, but “there is no logic in these proposals.” Ms. Bogatyreva promised today to express her opinion on the possible taking up of the post of speaker.
At yesterday’s negotiations with the opposition, Raisa Bogatyreva agreed that the decision of the Constitutional Court “the dissatisfied party” may “not recognize.” To give effect to the decision of the Constitutional Court, it is necessary to resolve a number of issues that were raised by the president and the prime minister. In particular, the parties must first determine a list of issues that “do not cause disagreement,” and at subsequent meetings seek a compromise on the rest. Ms. Bogatyreva found it difficult to predict the duration of the negotiations, but noted that “the parties are committed to dialogue.” But the leader of the pro-presidential “Our Ukraine”, Vyacheslav Kirilenko, admitted that the coalition’s negotiations with the opposition had reached a dead end. The opposition says that a conversation “on other pressing issues” can only take place after the coalition recognizes early elections as the starting point for negotiations. “Negotiations between the presidential secretariat and the government are ongoing, so a compromise will be reached, albeit at a snail’s pace,” Vadim Karasev noted in an interview with VN.
The “blue-white” coalition is using the temporary lull caused by the negotiations for active PR. Vladimir Sivkovich, a deputy from the Party of Regions, called on the president to provide security for opposition leaders. Sivkovich allegedly received “information from abroad” about the preparation of an assassination attempt or “something like that” on Yulia Tymoshenko in order to cast a shadow “on her political opponents.” The provocation “is beneficial abroad,” and “not to the neighboring countries,” Sivkovich hinted. To this, the BYuT stated that the “regionals” are obliged to immediately report these facts to law enforcement officers. Otherwise, BYuT will regard the continuation of the information campaign as part of the KGB operation against Tymoshenko planned by the “regionals” and criminals.