The instruction to draw up and submit to parliament before May 1 the law, On Political Opposition in Ukraine, which Leonid Kuchma gave to Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko on April 5, has at least one consolation point for the head of government. An instruction like this can mean that we will have the same premier even after the government reports to parliament on “reforms for the sake of our welfare.”
On the other hand, the assignment to the premier resembles a well- known scenario: you have displayed initiative, you have been assigned to put it into practice, and you will be punished for failure to do it well. But who has been balancing between the leadership and the opposition for so long? Who wanted to be everybody’s heartthrob? Who has been making statements in support of the people who declare their opposition to those in power? He must legalize all this now, personally submitting a bill called upon to identify in legal terms the legal status of the political opposition in this country. Clearly, this could kill two birds with one stone: first, the international community will only welcome this step by Kuchma who entrusted the opposition problem to the West’s blue-eyed boy and, second, in case of a trouble, the opposition will have to lay the blame precisely on the one whom it has always seen as its leader.
The law itself will in fact probably be of no importance. There will be no lines of those wishing to sign up for the opposition (to which the current majority re-registration campaign is evidence), a legalized opposition will frighten no one, even themselves. These are the realities of today’s Ukraine: the opposition draws members almost always from those who were leaders yesterday but then, for various reasons, lost all or some of their powers and privileges. Like a traffic cop with a large family, who cannot wait for a motorist to break the rules, modern oppositionists cannot wait years for the next elections in order to score a fair victory. They need the result right now, while the registration of oppositionists would resemble the registration line at a job center for the chronically unemployed.
For this reason, Mr. Yushchenko was assigned to draw up and submit the law on the political opposition which will never pass or be implemented anytime soon. What really matters is the very process of drawing up and debating it, and this will answer a considerable part of the still unsolved questions. Suffice it to recall an agreement between the government and parliament, a point that keeps popping up in the parliamentary merry-go-round. Now this agreement does not seem to be sought all too keenly by anyone. Where the opposition will be in May is a pointless conversation. Fresh parliamentary elections are approaching: we will see after them who has to sign up for the opposition.
