Upcoming Ukrainian Parliamentary Elections

1. Yulia Tymoshenko's Block and 'Our Ukraine' have started negotiation on creation of coalition
Ostrov
January 30, 2006

Today the negotiations have started on creation of pre-election coalition between 'Our Ukraine' and Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc. As the head of the press service of YTB, Vitaly Chepinoga, said, the YTB task group has left for negotiations.

Glavred informs that the meeting will take place 'on the neutral area'. The task group of JTB includes the deputies chairman of YTB Alexander Turchinov and Nikolay Tomenko.
The representatives of 'Our Ukraine' are unknown.

2. Timoshenko compares herself to Christ
Interfax
January 30, 2006

Ukrainian ex-prime minister Yulia Timoshenko did not exclude that there were untrustworthy members in her party. In support of this suspicion she reminded that the Saviour were also betrayed by one of his associates.

‘Even Jesus Christ had 10% of betrayers among the apostles. Therefore, I do not exclude that our team can also be betrayed’, she stated as cited by the Ukrainskaya pravda web-site.

‘Those who have joined our team will have to either confess the same principles and positions our bloc does or they will be out of our team’, Timoshenko said during a NTN broadcast.

3. Tymoshenko Bloc Proposes TV Debate Between Tymoshenko And Yanukovych Ahead Of Rada Elections
Ukrainian News
January 30, 2006

The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc is proposing to organize a television debate between the bloc's leader Yulia Tymoshenko and the Party of the Regions' leader Viktor Yanukovych during the campaigning for the 2006 parliamentary elections.

The bloc's deputy leader Mykola Tomenko announced this during the roundtable conference entitled "Organization of Debates During Pre-Election Campaigning: Problems of Legislative Regulation and Experience of Conducting Them."

According to Tomenko, a debate could be held between Tymoshenko and Yanukovych as the two leaders of the election campaign and candidates for the post of prime minister.

"We agree to debate only our main competitors in the elections," Tomenko said.

He noted that Tymoshenko earlier proposed to debate acting Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov on the issue of delivery of natural gas to Ukraine and that negotiations were held with television companies on this issue but Yekhanurov could not find time for the debate.

He expressed doubt whether it is technically possible to hold fully-fledged debates among all the 45 participants in the election.

According to Tomenko, the leaders of the 10 leading political forces could be selected based on opinion polls, divided into five pairs, and organize debates.

He stressed that participants in the debates should discuss the main aspects - economic and social - of the operations of the next government.

Moreover, journalist Andrii Shevchenko, who is one of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc's parliamentary candidates, said that it would be necessary to abide by the principles of equality for all participants in the election during the debates.

According to him, debates can be held among all political parties and blocs by dividing them into groups of 4-5 as well as among their leaders, who are to be paired.

Moreover, the participants in the roundtable stressed the need to hold the television debates before he parliamentary elections but said that this would hardly be possible because of technical difficulties and television companies' insufficient interest in such debates.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, television debates were organized among all presidential candidates ahead of the 2004 presidential elections.

The elections will be held on March 26.

4. Akhmetov is going to tell soon of his place in big politics
Ostrov
January 30, 2006

Ukrainian businessman, president of FC 'Shakhtar', Rinat Akhmetov, is going to have the news conference soon and tell what role he is going to play in a political life of the country.

The businessman and the people's deputy candidate Rinat Akhmetov declared that at today's press conference devoted to presentation of a Dutchman Hank von Stay as a director of the football academy of FC 'Shakhtar'.

'I am going to have the news conference specially for political issues. It will be in the nearest time, so there we'll have a talk on political topics', Rinat Akhmetov cut short of the journalists' attempt to transfer to the political issues from the press conference devoted to the sport event.


5. Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn does not rule out future Parliament's dissolution
National Radio of Ukraine
January 30, 2006

"If the elections result in forming a polar parliament, in which the poles will be aggressive, the Verkhovna Rada will be unable to form a government, will be unable to legislatively support the government's functioning", Mr Lytvyn said. In this case I do not rule out the likelihood of the March 26 elections proving not the last election within the next five-year period, Mr Lytvyn was quoted as saying. As he added, anything might happen, taking into account the fact that the Parliament will have to form a coalition and then a government. In the Speaker's opinion, the situation will depend on to what degree the warring political forces' leaders will be ready for reaching a compromise. This will be a hard task, taking into account the fact that there will be just two key posts, the Speaker and the Premier, Mr Lytvyn stressed. The March 26 elections in Ukraine will be held, for the first time, on the proportional system basis. The current situation's peculiarity is that on January 1, 2006 the Constitutional Reform took effect, in accordance with which part of the President's competence will be turned over to Parliament.

6. Communist Party Considers Abolition Of Presidency Necessary
Ukrainian News
January 30, 2006

The Communist Party believes it is necessary to abolish the presidency.

The Communist Party's leader Petro Symonenko announced this at a press conference.
"We will raise the issue of abolition of the institution of presidency in the parliament. It is surplus today," Symonenko said.

According to him, Ukraine is presently facing the threat of a dictatorial president or a puppet president. He stressed that the oligarchs would remain in power in any of these two cases.

Symonenko said he considered President Viktor Yuschenko a puppet.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Communist Party said on January 19 that it believed that the Cabinet of Ministers, Yuschenko, and the parliament would be unable to find a compromise on the current political crisis in the country.


7. 'Our Ukraine' did not propose Pozhivanov to the post of Donetsk mayor
Ostrov
January 30, 2006

The Donetsk oblast organization of the political party 'People's Union 'Our Ukraine' states that they have never promoted Mikhail Pozhivanov to the post of Donetsk mayor.

On 'Ostrov' s request, 'People's Union 'Our Ukraine' specified the information that had appeared in mass media that the bloc of 'Our Ukraine' had made a decision to support M . Pozhivanov to the post of the Donetsk mayor.

Their press service made a call to Kiev and there they couldn't say anything for certain as for Pozhivanov's candidacy. 'We don't have such information' was the answer of the central press service of 'Our Ukraine'.

Besides, the Donetsk press service of PUOU advised that speaking of the Donetsk mayor, they supported the candidacy of the former governor Alexander Klimenko, though he is not the member of the party, but they propose him to be the candidate for the post of Donetsk mayor.

To the question, if the party was going to promote somebody to the post of the city head, the press service responded that the Donetsk 'Our Ukraine' party members have no such intentions.