It seemed to be all smooth at first: all the factions, except for the Communists (KPU), took part in drawing up the bill. This prompted analysts to say that the “opposition bible” was very likely to be adopted without any obstacles. But the Party of Regions faction, which had previously said it was in favor of a law on opposition, suddenly said “no.” Our Ukraine was not unanimous, either, about this issue. Only 23 out of 81 OU deputies cast their votes for the law.
As the Verkhovna Rada gathered for an evening session, representatives of various factions heatedly debated on whether it was necessary to pass the law on opposition. Shortly before the vote, the BYuT leader Yuliya Tymoshenko said behind the scenes that she expected the law to be passed.
The BYuT people holding their breath, the grinning Regionals, the quiet Socialists, and the coolly indifferent Communists: this was the atmosphere in which the people’s deputies were waiting for the display board to flash the voting results, which proved totally unexpected.
Only 172 out of the 440 MPs present voted for the opposition law: one from the Party of Regions, 118 from the BYuT, 23 from Our Ukraine, 28 from the SPU, 0 from the KPU, and 2 from the independents.
The BYuT showed a lightning reaction. The bloc faction deputy leader Oleksandr Turchynov described Our Ukraine’s behavior as nothing but betrayal. “This betrayal just shocked us! Yes, we expected foul play from the Regionals but never thought that Our Ukraine colleagues could do so,” he said. Turchynov noted that all OU votes would have been enough for the opposition law to be passed in the first reading but Our Ukraine does not seem to fit in with the idea of opposition and, therefore, its members teamed with the Regionals and the Communists to thwart the passage of the law.
At the same time, Turchynov said that the BYuT would continue to fight for this law and the bloc “will force parliament to pass the law.” “We will make others reckon with our opinion. Our Ukraine’s position unties our hands, and we do not rule out that we will be able to take more concrete actions, especially as far as some package votes are concerned,” the BYuT faction deputy leader concluded.
Our Ukraine’s Borys Bezpaly said in his turn that the Orange faction refused to support the document because it did not meet legislative standards: for example, it does not set out registration rules for opposition associations.
A BYuT leader Mykola Tomenko is more reserved in commenting on the voting results. Tomenko claims that failure to pass the bill is part of a political game, whose rules he did not reveal. Yet, it is not so difficult to solve this puzzle. It is common knowledge that voting in the VR often depends on a situation. For example, many laws initiated by the ruling coalition are supported by the BYuT and OU but rejected by such full-fledged coalition members as the Communists and Socialists. Last Tuesday, on the eve of the debate on the bill “On the Opposition,” the parliamentarians had again discussed the 2007 budget. Shortly before, the BYuT leader did not rule out that her faction will back the draft law because “it is better to have a bad budget than not to have one at all.”
But Lady Yu radically changed her viewpoint on this overnight. Addressing the session, she said the BYuT would not vote for the next year’s budget. Then the coalition managed to muster the number of votes required for passing the 2007 budget. Only five BYuT members voted “for:” they almost always vote in unison with the coalition and are known in the parliamentary circles as none other than BYuT mavericks. Maybe, the Blue-Whites, who went back on their word to support the opposition law, thus avenged the BYuT for a “wrong” vote on the budget.
We must still get back to Turchynov’s statement, in which he hinted that the BYuT might take part in a package vote. He apparently means that the Tymoshenko Bloc will vote “wholesale” for the law “On the Cabinet of Ministers,” which both the government and the coalition need so badly, and its own bill on opposition. If you add 185 Regional votes to 125 of the BYuT, you will get 310, while at least 226 votes will suffice for the passage of this bill. One should not forget about the Socialists, either, who said a unanimous “yes” to the opposition law. Therefore, even if Our Ukraine dose not participate in the repeated voting, the BYuT will succeed in pushing through the law “On the Opposition.” In this case, OU, which (as well as the head of state) is scathingly criticizing the draft law on the Cabinet of Ministers, will remain at the receiving end.
It will be recalled that the VR’s Procedures Committee had previously registered two documents that govern the activities of the opposition. One was drawn up by Raisa Bohatyriova of the Party of Regions and the other by Yuliya Tymoshenko. As a result, to cut corners, it was decided to form a task force to prepare a coordinated text of the law. The group includes four representatives of the BYuT and the Party of Regions each and one from Our Ukraine and the Socialist Party. The text will be based on the Tymoshenko-proposed version. In all probability, corners have been cut in legislative terms, but they are still like a thorn in the side of some politicians.
This is the way laws are passed in Ukraine — depending on which foot the leader of a certain parliamentary faction first steps in the morning.
