Calls for a return to single-member electoral districts were immediately followed by many experts predicting return of long-forgotten politicians to Verkhovna Rada. This voting system will be an excellent loophole for “fat cats.” Fortunately for them, the recently adopted election rules permit them to use it, as the government’s idea has finally become a law with opposition’s support. Even the most disreputable people will be able to return to the parliament now. National renewal of sorts, is not it?
Says Leonid Kuchma: “I was even shown results of the survey on probability of my winning the race in some districts. And you know, these results looked very good,” he said in an interview with Weekly.ua.
“Everybody is sure that Kuchma will join the race, because with the MP’s seat, he would receive immunity from prosecution for five years, while Yulia Tymoshenko would be framed as guilty of Kuchma’s not so great deeds, too,” an Ukrainska Pravda user who goes by nickname “jakiv” remarked in a comment to the news.
Still, Kuchma has good odds to be elected in his native district in Chernihiv region, or somewhere else where people are short of money and thus easily bribed. How much good this possible return will do for the nation is completely another question. Today, many people remember growing GDP at the end of Kuchma’s ten-year-long rule, while forgetting about the Gongadze case, Kyrpa’s and Kravchenko’s mysterious deaths, assaults on Yeliashkevych and Podolski.
By the way, do you remember all this, Viktor Yushchenko? It resulted in the
Orange Revolution. But as time has shown, the memory incontinence is quite a common disease in our society. This fact is confirmed by slogans “We are sorry, old man!” and “Kuchma, go back to the helm!” which Kuchma clearly takes a pride in.
Kuchma also said he did not feel personal responsibility for what was happening with the country these days: “The responsibility for what happens in any country rests usually with the current government!” Clan oligarchy started to blossom under Kuchma, while events in the Independence Square have failed to root it out.
“I still do not know what way he led us. I wonder whether Kuchma himself knows. West ignored him, while Putin had barely failed to grab Tuzla Island. Horbulin related that Putin, in fact, was refusing to even take up the phone for a week during the Tuzla crisis. The former president’s political course was a very simple one, he aimed to grab shares in relatively high-value enterprises, but evade consequences of his actions after the end of his rule,” an Ukrainska Pravda user who goes by nickname “vv64” commented on Kuchma’s words.
However, Kuchma’s verbal attacks on the Orange political camp, as well as a lot of Yushchenko’s remarks about his predecessor, do not prevent them from meeting, hugging, and kissing each other today (see the photo).
“It is equally wrong to follow stronger drinks with weaker ones degree during the feast and to lower one’s aims in politics,” political analyst Dmytro Vydrin says. “It ends badly in both cases. I know very few such cases where a politician lowered her or his aim and achieved it, even partially. It is better to be a known memoirist, philanthropist, to endow a foundation, than to try to step into the same river for the second or third time, as very few people succeeded in it. Therefore, I am skeptical of such attempts. We saw “For Kuchma!” bloc running in a recent election and winning just a fraction of a percentage point of the vote. I think his chances are minimal. You know, there are two types of people, those who go to church and those who go into politics. So he or she who goes into politics forgets about self-criticism, doubt, and guilt, while those who have such feelings usually do not enter politics. Political power has become a “philosopher’s stone,” a kind of “cure for old age” in modern Ukraine. Therefore, the pursuit of power is likely a manifestation of pursuit of immortality. All our magnates consider power to be an elixir of immortality. It is an illusion, but illusion that is firmly believed by all Ukrainian people in power. While you are in power, the eyes of a journalist who interviews you are shining, red carpet is being rolled out for you to step on, and you are liked and honored, but when you leave the power, you become just a retiree of national prominence.”
