In the picture you can see the new leadership of the Ukrainian Parliament. 309 out of 447 registered members of parliament received ballots for secret voting. 226 voted. All the votes were for Volodymyr Lytvyn. None of the ballots was ruled void. 5 out of 16 members of the Counting Commission refused to sign the voting protocol. Notably, the commission is chaired by Communist Valery Mishura, a representative of the opposition. However, despite the end to long and painful consultations and negotiations, the people’s representatives did not look happy. And when newly elected Speaker Lytvyn began his speech, all four opposition fractions left the session hall. There are reasons to say, though, that the several lacking votes for the proposed package of candidatures must have been augmented by the Communists and representatives of Our Ukraine. For instance, as OU representative Volodymyr Shcherban confessed to reporters, he voted for the package motioned by For A United Ukraine. The same was done, according to him, a few more members of Yushchenko’s faction. Communist Heorhy Kriuchkov told The Day that he had voted nay, but he didn’t rule out that “some members of the fraction may have voted for Lytvyn.” Judging by the result, up to ten yeas were furnished by the Communists
“The time for political consultations is over. Now we need to make a definite decision. If the factions don’t compromise, then, considering the fact that some deputies have agreed to our proposals, we can be sure about a successful vote.” Thus Serhiy Tyhypko, one of the For a United Ukraine (ZaYedU) leaders, commented the morning of May 28 on his faction’s intention to motion a new package of candidates for speaker, first vice speaker, and vice speaker that “needed no additional negotiations”: Lytvyn, Vasyliev, and Zinchenko. This package passed. For the first time in the two week process of choosing the parliament’s leadership, words were followed by deeds. Without Yushchenko, though, whose “constructive” and “consistent” political position had puzzled his own faction’s representatives. Without Yuliya Tymoshenko and Oleksandr Moroz, whose opposition appeals had drowned in the squabble between Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine and the Communists. And, as it looks, without [Communist leader] Petro Symonenko with his trump.
“We did not encounter understanding from the representatives of those factions, in some groups within them,” Tyhypko said, expressing regret that the leadership would have to be elected without them. But that, according to Lytvyn, did not leave the “noisy four” overboard. The former Presidential Chief of Staff even made a bow saying that the ZaYedU faction would not move its package until agreement was reached among four others (OU, CPU [Communist Party of Ukraine], SPU [Socialist Party of Ukraine] and the Tymoshenko Bloc). “We let others go first, as polite people should,” Lytvyn told reporters. But that politeness did not help the four.
There is one interesting nuance to be mentioned. On the eve of the vote, there was controversial information about visits to the president by representatives of the Donetsk region led by Governor Viktor Yanukovych, about a possible exodus of representatives of the powerful Party of Regions from ZaYedU, about Yanukovych’s ambition to become premier, and other signs of the clan’s strength. In this light, the final spiral of the election process looks far more complex than ZaYedU’s unsuccessful attempts to enlist support from other factions. And in this connection, the candidacy for the First Vice Speaker’s post, authoritative Donetsk oblast representative Hennady Vasyliev does not appear accidental.
However, in his interview with The Day one of the most influential representatives of the region, a member of the parliament’s Interim Presidium Valery Konovaliuk denied any centrifugal tendencies within ZaYedU. According to him, Vasyliev is not a member of the Party of Regions, but he is a first-class lawyer. That is why, he said, the ZaYedU faction offered his candidacy for the post of First Vice Speaker. And that is why OU member Serhiy Teriokhin proposed electing Vasyliev First Vice Speaker. There were no other reasons, Konovaliuk contends. According to him, all allegations about “some Donetsk factors” are absolutely groundless, and all members of the faction wish Ukraine equally well.
Another member of the ZaYedU Oleksandr Volkov, was more frank. According to him, Vasyliev’s candidature in the proposed package directly reflects the Donetsk clan’s interests: “They contributed a lot to ZaYedU’s success in the election and justly counted on some compensation.” Volkov even expressed surprised that Vasyliev’s candidacy had not emerged in this context earlier. Nevertheless, according to him, this fact itself does not demonstrate any centrifugal tendencies within the ZaYedU, which is visible enough. As Volkov forecasts, For A United Ukraine will soon split into five or six factions, one of which will be a fraction of the Party of Regions. And Hennady Vasyliev will represent the interests of the Donetsk region in Verkhovna Rada. Meanwhile, the newly elected first vice speaker remains cautious and avoids contacts with the press.
(See also p. CLOSEUP)
