A couple of quotations from today’s press-conference of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko:
"The ruling coalition in Parliament is de facto absent".
"The majority voting system will never be presented again in Ukraine".
"The parliamentary coalition should prove it has 226 MPs, and re-introduce a candidature of PM".
"I'm ready to hold early presidential election, if the parliament agrees to hold early parliamentary election on a base of a new electoral law, and to abolish unlimited parliamentary immunities"
"Decision of the Constitutional Court shall be the base for future actions (concerning early parliamentary election. – T.V.)"
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) made public its World Economic Outlook today. The Fund revised its forecast of GDP of Ukraine to a drop of 8 percent this year, from the earlier figure of 3 percent. It also predicted the economy of Ukraine would grow 1.0 percent in 2010.
The World Bank also revised its 2009 forecast this month, and said that the Ukrainian GDP will drop to 9 percent from a previous prediction of minus 4 percent.
Ukrainian government still thinks that GDP-2009 will grow on 0.4 percent. In 2008, the economy grew 2.1 percent.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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In 2007 Victory Yuschenko unconstitutionally dismissed Ukraine's democratically elected Parliament. He illegally interfered with the independence and operation of Ukraine's Constitutional Court in order to prevent the court from ruling against his decree. (The CCU still has not made ruling on the question of legality of his actions)
Ukraine as a result suffered seven months of political instability and civil unrest.
Yuschenko refused suggestions at the time that Ukraine simultaneously hold early Presidential and Parliamentary elections as a way of resolving the political stand-off.
His motivation and justification for the dismissal of Ukraine's parliament the parliament was to prevent the Parliament from securing support and the constitutional majority required to change Ukraine's constitution and implement a full Parliamentary system of governance in line with other European States.
Having gambled with the outcome of fresh elections in 2007 Yuschenko's political party "Our Ukraine" secured only 14% of the national vote.
In 2008 Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko resolved to support Ukraine becoming a parliamentary democracy.
In September 2008 Victor Yuschenko with the support of his faction sought to once again undermine the political stability of Ukraine by withdrawing support for the governing coalition in order to provide authority and justification for Yuschenko to dismiss the parliament for a second time.
The proposed dismissal of Ukraine's Parliament failed when a majority of the Our Ukraine-People's Self Defence faction rejected the President's plan and agreed to support the formation of a revised coalition in December 2008.
With the government maintaining the support and confidence of the parliament and Viktor Yuschenko's political party in disarray the President no longer held the authority to dismiss Ukraine's parliament.
Ukraine has suffered economically as a result of the President's power struggle and attempts to destabilise the country. As a consequence Viktor Yuschenko's public support has dramatically slumped from a high of 52% in 2005 to less then 3% in 2009. Yuschenko now holds the world record as the least supported head of state.
The Presidential system has failed Ukraine. Yuschenko is considered to be the worst president in Ukraine's history. He will not be re-elected to a second term of office.
Presidential elections are currently scheduled to be held on October 25, 2009.
Under the provision of Ukraine's constitution (Article 90) The President,subject to review by the Constitutional Court, no longer has the authority to dismiss Ukraine's parliament.
Yuschenko having previously rejected the proposal of simultaneous Presidential and Parliamentary elections now that his term of office is about to expire supports it.
Rather then support early presidential elections Viktor Yuschenko,in a desperate attempt to cling on to power and to prevent Ukraine from holding Presidential elections in Autumn, is seeking to overturn the decision of the parliament to hold an October ballot, forcing Ukraine into hold presidential elections in January, the midst of Ukraine's bitter cold winter.
Yuschenko's actions and policies of division and attempts to destabilise Ukraine's economy and democratic development have not been in Ukraine's best interest.
Yuschenko has and continues to place his own political interest ahead of the country.
He has betrayed those who supported his election and the principles of democracy by denying Ukraine the right and opportunity to adopt European standards and European values of governance.
Ukraine needs a head of state who can represent all of Ukraine and someone who truly values the principles of democracy.
The sooner Yuschenko is removed from office the better.
Prove ItYuschenko's call for the coalition to prove it has 226 members of Parliament is another example of inconsistency in his arguments.
Under Ukraine's Constitution the governing coalition of formed by parties/factions that represent a majority of the Parliament (226 or more)
The current coalition is made up of Bloc Yulia Tymoschenko (BYuT), Our Ukraine-People's Self Defence Party and Bloc Lytvyn. Toghther these three parties represent over 50% of the parliament. Yuschenko knows this.
According to Yuschenko in 2007 individual members of parliament can not vote outside there faction - Well when he disagrees with the decision. The Imperative mandate was one of the justifications he tried to use to justify his illegal dismissal of the previous Parliament.
Whats happened of course is that his won political party (Our Ukraine and Peoples Self Defence) have distanced them selves from Yuschenko's attempts to dismiss the government. A Majority of his faction has voted top remain a part of the governing coalition
Yuschenko and his Secretary, Baloha, are not happy with the decision and they continue to try and undermine the governing coalition. _ To what goal one can only question. The effect of the president's actions are having a serious impact on Ukraine's economic recovery. Political instability does not help. Yet Yuschenko,oblivious to the detrimental effects of his policies continues to undermine his own party and the government.
Little wonder why his support base has dropped so dramaticaly over the last 12months.
Yuschenko does not have a legal leg to stand on. - Nor did he back in 2007. Issue of constitutionality, rule of law and the need for stable government do not prevent Yuschenko from dragging Ukraine down.
The imperative mandate provisions, that the Venice Commission and Europe are so critical of and Yuschenko selectively uses to justify his actions when it suits him, only apply to the formation of the coalition. It also only applies to the factions representing a majority not a majority of members voting individually.
It is possible for Ukraine like many other democratic nations to have a minority government.
As long as the government can maintain the confidence of the parliament they are entitle to retain office.
Yuschenko's continual efforts to disband the coalitution and undermine Ukraine's stability is destructive to say the least and certainly not in Ukraine's best interest. What does he hope to achieve by his actions?
It's his way or the highwayThe best way now is to remove Yuschenko. After all he is the problem. His actions are destabilizing,unconstitutional and undemocratic
Ukrainians are very much aware of Yusshenko's acts of betrayal and division.
75% of Ukrainians what him to resign or impeached. Little wonder considering the pain and suffering he has caused.
Lower the 3 percent barrier
Source Kyiv Post
By law, parliamentarians are elected on the basis of a proportional system. At the same time, only those parties (blocs) that get at least 3 percent of votes can participate in the distribution of deputies’ mandates.
In the last election we watched a desperate struggle among some political parties for the “cherished” three percent threshold. The Socialists gained 2.86 percent of votes, while the Progressive Socialists got 1.86 percent. These figures mean that more than one and a half million Ukrainians voted for these political forces that are unrepresented in the Verkhovna Rada.
Their votes were distributed among parties which overcame the 3 percent barrier and implemented political ideas that did not correspond to the wishes of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians – and sometimes even contradicted those wishes. In the 2007 parliamentary election, about 7 percent of electors voted for parties that didn’t gain 3 percent. In 2006, the opinion of 18 percent of electors wasn’t taken into account!
There are great doubts that the 3 percent access barrier is democratic. One of the fundamental principles of democracy is political pluralism – a government that takes into account the will of the majority and to the will of minority. Practically, it means that the political minority can be represented in different state bodies as well as in the parliament.
In my opinion, even a 1 percent barrier would be undemocratic. I can appeal to the following logic. If 450 deputies of Verkhovna Rada represent 100 percent of electors, then one deputy represents approximately 0.22 percent. Thus, we have come to the very percent of access barrier (0.2 percent) which would mathematically meet the Constitution.
A lower access barrier will entail the Rada splitting into a greater number of parties and the appearance of parties with only a few members. But it will be a fair price for making the Rada more representative and for establishing a real people’s parliament.
Unfortunately, we can hardly expect support for the proposal from the parliament in force. Deputies (from major parties and blocs) want to raise the barrier to higher than 3 percent. Representatives of the Party of Regions and Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko take great inspiration from the practice of the northern neighbor. In Russia, the 7 percent barrier was introduced to secure victory of the pro-presidential power. Thus, the only chance to save the situation now is to appeal to the Constitutional Court.
Roman Marchenko senior partner of Ilyashev & Partners law firm. marchenko@attorneys.com.ua
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