Ukrainian Politics 101
It was quite a day in Ukrainian political life. We also hosted a long ministry meeting in our apartment tonight. It was a full evening's work.
As to the political situation, let me explain a bit for those who might not follow Ukrainian politics very closely (which, I imagine, is most everyone who reads this blog). Here is what is going on as I see it: In March 2006, there were elections for all 450 deputies in Ukraine's parliament, called the Verkhovna Rada. In Ukraine, to put it simply, people don't vote for individual candidates but for parties. And then the parties that get more than 3% of the national vote are assigned a proportionate number of deputies and the parties have to form a governing coalition if no single party receives a majority. But, individuals may not form coalitions, only parties. Over the past few weeks, and most recently in the last two weeks, several deputies shifted their allegiances out of the party they were a member of and to the current coalition, which is actually a coalition in which the president's party is not a member. In other words, they were supposed to be representing the percentage of votes assigned to their party but they switched to supporting a coalition their original party is against. Thus, in the president's mind, this move violated the intent of the election results and since he is the guarantor of the Constitution, he dissolved the parliament, a right he is afforded by the Constitution of Ukraine, and called for early elections.
Of course, a president has never dissolved parliament in Ukraine. So it's all going to the Constitutional court now. They apparently have at least two weeks to debate the case. No one is sure where this is going, but I have a feeling we are going to have an election on May 27. I also have a feeling voter turnout won't be very high. And I also have a feeling the Communists, this time, won't surpass the 3% threshold, and I also have a feeling we will again see a lot of wrangling as to how a new coalition will be formed since MANY people will defect from the Socialists and follow Lutsenko, who has now left the Socialist party. Also, it will be interesting to see if the smaller parties, like Litvyn's party or PORA will run separately or join a coalition to make certain they get into the Rada this time. Hopefully, PORA will do this. PORA, by the way, is the radical student-led nonviolent protest group that was very active in the Orange Revolution. They are currently surrounding the Central Election Commission, surrounded it in their famous yellow flags, and have resolved not to allow the old head of the election commission, Kuvalov, to enter the building. Kuvalov is well-known for his efforts to falsify election returns. The current coalition in parliament is trying to reinstate him as head of the election commission. I wonder why???
And finally, they turned the heat off and I'm freezing. It gets close to freezing at night and we've no heat.
If you want to keep up with what happens, I recommend the London Financial Times. They actually have a reporter in Kyiv as opposed to re-printing the ubiquitous and mundane AP feed.
We are this year, by the way, celebrating Easter with the rest of the world this year.
As to the political situation, let me explain a bit for those who might not follow Ukrainian politics very closely (which, I imagine, is most everyone who reads this blog). Here is what is going on as I see it: In March 2006, there were elections for all 450 deputies in Ukraine's parliament, called the Verkhovna Rada. In Ukraine, to put it simply, people don't vote for individual candidates but for parties. And then the parties that get more than 3% of the national vote are assigned a proportionate number of deputies and the parties have to form a governing coalition if no single party receives a majority. But, individuals may not form coalitions, only parties. Over the past few weeks, and most recently in the last two weeks, several deputies shifted their allegiances out of the party they were a member of and to the current coalition, which is actually a coalition in which the president's party is not a member. In other words, they were supposed to be representing the percentage of votes assigned to their party but they switched to supporting a coalition their original party is against. Thus, in the president's mind, this move violated the intent of the election results and since he is the guarantor of the Constitution, he dissolved the parliament, a right he is afforded by the Constitution of Ukraine, and called for early elections.
Of course, a president has never dissolved parliament in Ukraine. So it's all going to the Constitutional court now. They apparently have at least two weeks to debate the case. No one is sure where this is going, but I have a feeling we are going to have an election on May 27. I also have a feeling voter turnout won't be very high. And I also have a feeling the Communists, this time, won't surpass the 3% threshold, and I also have a feeling we will again see a lot of wrangling as to how a new coalition will be formed since MANY people will defect from the Socialists and follow Lutsenko, who has now left the Socialist party. Also, it will be interesting to see if the smaller parties, like Litvyn's party or PORA will run separately or join a coalition to make certain they get into the Rada this time. Hopefully, PORA will do this. PORA, by the way, is the radical student-led nonviolent protest group that was very active in the Orange Revolution. They are currently surrounding the Central Election Commission, surrounded it in their famous yellow flags, and have resolved not to allow the old head of the election commission, Kuvalov, to enter the building. Kuvalov is well-known for his efforts to falsify election returns. The current coalition in parliament is trying to reinstate him as head of the election commission. I wonder why???
And finally, they turned the heat off and I'm freezing. It gets close to freezing at night and we've no heat.
If you want to keep up with what happens, I recommend the London Financial Times. They actually have a reporter in Kyiv as opposed to re-printing the ubiquitous and mundane AP feed.
We are this year, by the way, celebrating Easter with the rest of the world this year.
posted by Kyivmission at 11:52 PM
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