Ukraine’s antagonistic leaders said on Thursday they favoured a compromise to resolve a stand-off prompted by the president’s dissolution of Parliament, but neither appeared to make immediate concessions.
President Viktor Yushchenko, swept to power by the mass protests of the 2004 ”Orange Revolution”, dissolved the chamber and called a new parliamentary election for May 27 after months of sniping with his arch rival, Ukraine’s prime minister.
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and the majority backing him in Parliament have asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the legality of the president’s decree.
Ukraine watchers agree that any court ruling would only widen a rift between the conflicting parties. Both sides have suggested that a face-saving political deal could obviate the ruling and allow both sides to back down.
Yushchenko dissolved the chamber to stop what he said were illegal moves to entice his allies to cross the floor and join the majority coalition. On Thursday, he accused Parliament of creating ”hysteria”, but vowed to stand by a court ruling.
”I will abide by any ruling of the Constitutional Court. I am a democrat and I respect the law,” Yushchenko told a news conference.
But he added: ”This is a political crisis and it is up to politicians to use their professional skill and political mechanisms to solve this conflict. It is improper to put a political question before the Constitutional Court.”
He suggested that fresh elections were needed as a ”purgatory” for all Ukrainian political forces.
Yanukovich initially rejected the decree, but has since said he would back simultaneous parliamentary and presidential contests.
On Thursday, he said a political deal could be a solution.
”Even if the Constitutional Court rules that the decree is unconstitutional, an election is possible if all participants in the political process reach an agreement in political terms,” he said during talks with Lithuania’s prime minister.
Postponing the election
In Brussels, a European Union envoy who met senior Ukrainian politicians on Wednesday, said the crisis could be solved by putting off the election.
Marek Siwiec, a Vice-President of the European Parliament, proposed finding ”a compromise date for any early elections, with all the parties of the conflict. This would be better than to keep May 27, which is not realistic at all.”
Siwiec on Wednesday said it was too early to involve European Union institutions in the crisis.
Supporters and opponents of the president’s decree pressed on with protests in central Kiev, but these have been relatively small. Attempts to recreate the atmosphere of the 2004 ”orange” protests have largely gone flat.
Yushchenko defeated Yanukovich in a re-run of a 2004 election after weeks of upheaval against a blatant attempt to initially declare the latter the winner.
The two men hold contrasting visions of the future of ex-Soviet Ukraine.
Yushchenko has promised to move Ukraine closer to the West, seek long-term European Union and Nato membership and build an open, liberal economy. Yanukovich accuses the president’s allies of pitching the economy into a tailspin and has pledged to rebuild close links with Russia to the north.
The president reluctantly named Yanukovich prime minister after his own ”orange” allies scored badly in a parliamentary election barely a year ago and failed to form a government. He has since constantly chipped away at the president’s authority. – Reuters