The leader of the Our Ukraine political bloc Viktor Yushchenko does not rule out the possibility of negotiations with the authorities, although he has announced that if this does not occur it is possible that the bloc will organize radical actions. On Wednesday evening during a live broadcast on the NBM television channel (quoted by the Interfax News Agency), Yushchenko said that he sees two possible scenarios for getting out of the current situation. The preferred — in Yushchenko’s words — is that which envisages the peaceful transfer of power from the forces who did not receive a real majority in the 2002 elections to those forces that did. The second possibility involves the ‘street element’, although this way “is not characteristic of a democratic country.” “But we will be there, where our voter is. He will be in the street — we will be in the street,” insisted Yushchenko.
“We remain, on the one hand, within the negotiation process — we are demonstrating a large degree of loyalty and tolerance for the Ukrainian authorities. However, if our initiative are repelled, as if against a brick wall, we will do everything [to ensure that] the Ukrainian authorities either come down from their lofty position and sit at the negotiating table, or immediate elections are called in the country,” stated Yushchenko. He also noted that the reason the “initiative [in parliament] revolves around the pro-authority ‘group of nine’ is because a change of government is on its way”. “It is necessary to put in place an obedient figure, who will sign checks, carry out his duties, and make various promises. And for that a majority is required. Such a majority becomes necessary when a president needs to be elected. This, is probably the context for the initiative regarding a parliamentary-presidential republic,” added Yushchenko.
