The roster of Volodymyr Lytvyn’s Bloc, one of the largest in the current parliamentary campaign, popularly known under the code name “My” [We], has finally been approved — most likely a last- minute decision made “off the cuff,” as Lytvyn put it. How else can one explain the fact that the secretariat had no time to prepare the final copy of the roster by the end of the press conference, let alone the bloc’s meeting? Was it because of the leadership’s bad organization or an outside attempt to tamper with the list of names? Or perhaps some force majeure circumstances were to blame? No one knows. One thing is obvious: Lytvyn’s attempt to “sweeten” the roster was unsuccessful. Even the presence of Sofia Rotaru in the first five names did not help. Ihor Yeremeiev, leader of the People’s Party faction in the Verkhovna Rada, was right when he predicted that Lytvyn roster would be a surprise. It was, except that it was an unpleasant one.
When you browse through the list of the People’s Party nominees, you are tempted to switch the second and fourth dozen of nominees, keeping in mind that the seats after no. 35 or even no. 30 are a no-go. Viktor Pinchuk’s protege Yulia Chebotariova (no. 23) should switch places with Volodymyr Maistryshyn, a professional economist and one of the faction’s most effective members, who is all the way down in 49th place. The spot assigned to Valeriy Akopian, who upon learning that his number was 75 simply refused the dubious privilege, is occupied by A. Karpov. Oleh Dubyna should be assigned not slot no. 25 but no. 41, which is completely unexpectedly occupied by Lytvyn’s dedicated and hardworking drudge, Anatoliy Levyn.
The injustices that were committed when the party roster was drawn up are clearly apparent, and Lytvyn’s attitude certainly does not do him any honor.
The same is true of his attitude when he refused to explain his actions to journalists, let alone give them access to the party convention. Instead, Lytvyn angrily told a brief press conference that all the names on the roster were regional nominees.
He refused to specify the number of seats he expected to get in the next Verkhovna Rada, noting, “The more the better; this is all for the good of Ukraine.” As for the possibility of joining what President Yushchenko earlier outlined rather clearly as NSNU + BYuT + SPU, Lytvyn had this to say: “We must achieve such a result that will allow us to choose our own partners, rather than allow others to choose us as partners. Apparently we are an important force, so much so that we don’t have to join anyone, others must join us.” In response to a journalist’s humorous question about how the Ukrainian speaker felt about being paraphrased and quoted, Lytvyn must have missed the subtle irony when he stated bluntly, “I feel happy that I am numbered among the classics. I can disperse grains of wisdom. Let people gather them and use them while I am alive.”
In a word, after the post-convention press conference Lytvyn did not seem his usual self; he was exasperated, embittered, and careless in his statements. For some of those present this was additional proof that the man is being strongly pressured from outside, that there are forces interfering with the roster, and so on.
In addition to the roster, the MY Bloc’s convention, held behind closed doors, adopted a new campaign program. It is anyone’s guess what new ideas it contains, except probably the stated intent to give even stronger support to the interests of the agroindustrial complex. “Our bloc has not just popular but peasant roots — I am not afraid to say,” happily declared Valeriy Vashchevsky, one of the bloc founders. It seems that the decision was made to start over with singing of the song that was interrupted during the reformatting of the Agrarian Party of Ukraine into the People’s Party. The main thing is that this approach allows for more effective competition with the Socialists in the rural electoral field.
