The two sides in the 11-day crisis in Ukraine showed the first signs of compromise on Wednesday night when they released a joint statement promising an end to opposition blockades of government buildings and to respect the decision of the supreme court which has yet to rule on the validity of the disputed presidential elections.
The outgoing president, Leonid Kuchma, read out the statement — the first that the opposition leader, Viktor Yushchenko, and the prime minister, Viktor Yanukovich, have both signed — after talks mediated by the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and the Polish president, Alexander Kwasniewski.
It pledged reform of electoral law, but put the prospect of an end to the mass protests in central Kiev further away. It said both sides agreed to resume talks only after the supreme court had ruled on allegations of fraud in the November 21 presidential run-off. It was not clear when this would be.
Yushchenko, addressing tens of thousands of supporters immediately after the statement, called for a repeat of the second round run-off to be held on December 19.
However, Kuchma is pushing for a rerun of the entire election. Under the Constitution this would take place in three months’ time, which would give Kuchma’s battered regime time to regroup. It would also allow a compromise candidate to stand and split the opposition vote.
In an attempt to cast the compromise as a sign of victory, a lengthy and extravagant fireworks display was set off across Independence Square in central Kiev.
Earlier Parliament voted to sack the government and cre ate an ”alternative government of people’s trust”.
As an impatient crowd of protesters swarmed around Parliament, a declaration of no confidence in the government was passed. Yanukovich said he did not recognise the motion, which the opposition said Kuchma was obliged to sign into law.
Analyst Markian Bilynskyj, said the joint statement was a sign that Kuchma was ”bowing to reality”. He added: ”Yuschenko would not have agreed to this if he was not confident. Politically they can talk all they want, but the key thing is the outcome of the legal process.”
Kuchma’s policy of calling for elections to be held from scratch, was set in train when Yanukovich’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to annul the election results they had claimed only days earlier legitimately gave him the presidency.
The court could decide that the results are so flawed in all parts of the country that the whole process has to be repeated.
On Wednesday the student activist group Pora, which formerly led opposition protests, disassociated itself from opposition politicians, citing a lack of progress in negotiations.
”We are now opposition to the opposition”, said a spokesperson, Anastasia Bezverkha.
Yanukovich’s supporters in the eastern town of Donetsk, who have used the threat of seceding from Ukraine to boost Yanukovich in negotiations, on Wednesday backtracked on Tuesday’s decision to cease talk of greater autonomy. They said they would hold a referendum on the issue on January 9. – Guardian Unlimited Â