Verkhovna Rada was to have decided October 24 on over a hundred bills and resolutions, including documents related to the economy, finances, international relations, law and order, nation’s security, and the social sphere. But, as it had often happened before, the deputies seized on pure politics. As expected, voting on the draft resolution about this country’s political situation became the stumbling block. The deputies were offered three versions of the resolution: one by the KPU, SPU, and BYuT leaders demanded kick starting impeachment of the president; a version from the Nine which suggested holding presidential elections in the period set by the Constitution; and a draft registered in the very last minute by People’s Deputy Yury Karmazin of Our Ukraine. The latter draft somewhat resembled that of Symonenko, Moroz, and Tymoshenko but with some significant differences. First, it did not demand immediate impeachment of the president, and secondly, the document urged the head of state to immediately dismiss Viktor Medvedchuk as head of the Presidential Administration.
None of the drafts were adopted. The first to be put to a vote was the opposition troika’s document. It was supported by 200 deputies — the anti-presidential forces’ upper limit in the parliament. The Nine’s draft gained 222 votes. Although pro-presidential faction members were not exactly worried over the destiny of their own document, the result that flashed on the display board clearly showed the true strength of the current majority. Deputy Karmazin’s draft was voted for by 117 deputies, mainly, for obvious reasons, from Viktor Yushchenko’s faction. Yet, instead of calming down and getting down to business, the opposition chose to shake their fists. People’s Deputy Serhiy Teriokhin (Our Ukraine), who was to present an economic bill according to the agenda, said from the podium his faction refused to participate in debating the bills ostensibly because their proposals about the political situation resolution had not been supported.
Then Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn lost his temper. He, former leader of the For a United Ukraine bloc, made perhaps one of his most spectacular public speeches. Addressing Mr. Yushchenko and his followers, Mr. Lytvyn accused them of breaking jointly reached agreements. According to Mr. Lytvyn, the majority met Our Ukraine halfway as far as the budget and the political situation are concerned in exchange for a promise not to obstruct parliamentary proceedings. “You are now cynically obstructing the work of Verkhovna Rada,” the speaker said. “This is an outrage... You are putting your political interests above those of the state... You have become carried away by political gambling; you don’t care about the Ukrainian people,” he said and then walked out. The parliament turned into a public rally for some time, and a well-known grandstanding SPU “revolutionary” even ran up to the podium — perhaps to size up the speaker’s chair...
After the break that followed the speaker’s departure, the floor was taken by Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko. As usual, Mr. Yushchenko put all the blame for the current situation at the highest legislative body on the Presidential Administration and its head. Mr. Lytvyn noted in reply that he was guided exclusively by the interests of the state, people, and Verkhovna Rada. The speaker also denied accusations that he was obeying Presidential Administration orders, “If I feel I am being controlled by somebody from the President’s Administration, I will sit in the back of the room, vote quietly, live quietly, and stop putting my life on hold.”
Finally, Mr. Lytvyn managed to persuade his colleagues to resume work. However, the day was unproductive: by all accounts, the deputies made only one important decision — they dismissed Vitaly Boiko from the office of Supreme Court chairman with 300 votes for and 2 against out of 412 voting. Yet, this voting hardly proves that the majority and the opposition had found a common language: the individual was “allowed” to retire on his own legitimate request. All we can say after the Thursday vote is that the acute parliamentary crisis has come to a head. One way or another, the Our Ukraine fraction is today the pivotal element of parliamentary peace. Unfortunately, in their numerous press interviews, both Viktor Yushchenko and Yury Kostenko have more often laid claim to offices than shown any readiness for a compromise.
“We have too often been asked to support a certain decision in favor of the pro-presidential forces. But we have never been invited to the government or someplace else in exchange,” People’s Deputy Kostenko told The Day. The majority is also in no hurry to make new overtures to Our Ukraine. Some of the Nine leaders, especially NDP faction leader Valery Pustovoitenko, hope for a radical improvement of discipline in the majority. A correct line indeed. But you cannot possibly forbid deputies to take ill — are they going to be carried on their hospital beds into the session room on Thursdays to do their duty? Symptomatically enough, the word “dissolution” sounded in Verkhovna Rada on October 24 perhaps more often than “impeachment.” At the same time, President Leonid Kuchma, visiting Croatia, said again he must be vested with the right to dissolve Verkhovna Rada should the latter be nonviable. Perhaps at least the sense of self-preservation will show the deputies the way to a compromise, for both the majority and the minority members pumped huge amounts of money into the election campaign.
