Posted on 12/01/2004 4:28:08 AM PST by kattracks
KIEV, Ukraine - Ukraine's parliament brought down the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich on Wednesday, approving a no-confidence motion as international mediators gathered in the capital to try to bring the spiraling political crisis to a peaceful resolution. The dramatic vote came only days after the Election Commission certified Yanukovich as winner of Ukraine's disputed presidential run-off, though opposition leader Victor Yushchenko has said the vote was fraudulent, an allegation backed by Western governments and tens of thousands of opposition supporters.
Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma must now appoint a caretaker government, if he is to follow constitutional procedure. Kuchma, minutes before the vote, announced he supported holding an entirely new presidential election, not just a revote of the disputed second round.
Ukraine had a first round of voting in which no candidate received more than half the votes, setting up a runoff between Yanukovich and Yushchenko. The Nov. 21 vote provoked a national standoff when the opposition cited voter fraud, a charge backed by many international monitors. Yushchenko supporters called for a revote.
"Where in the world do they have a third round of elections? A revote — it's a farce," Kuchma said at a government meeting. "I never supported it because it is unconstitutional."
Meanwhile, the regional legislature in Yanukovych's home region of Donetsk decided to go ahead with a referendum on Jan. 9 seeking autonomy from the country's central government, a move which would transform Ukraine into a federation.
Kuchma's proposal of a new vote seemed to be an attempt to buy the government time in the face of mass protests that have paralyzed the capital for 10 days and blocked government business. It also opened up the possibility of bringing new candidates into the race — which the government has appeared to favor and the opposition fiercely opposes.
Under the Ukrainian constitution, the president must accept parliament's no-confidence vote, said Kiev-based analyst Markian Bilynskyj. He said that Kuchma has no choice but to dismiss his government and appoint a caretaker government, likely to be headed by parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn.
Bilynskyj said that pro-Communist parliamentary groups used a similar move in 2001 to oust Yushchenko from the prime minister's post.
However, Serhiy Seheda, a political analyst with the International Center for Policy Studies in Kiev, said Kuchma might ignore parliament.
"Our president does not always act according to the constitution," he said.
The no-confidence vote was passed by 229 members of the 450-member chamber. It came minutes after being turned down by a vote of 222-1.
International mediators, meanwhile, renewed efforts to defuse the crisis and the Supreme Court considered whether the election results were valid.
The last internationally brokered negotiations broke down over opposition accusations that the government was trying to consolidate its flagging authority by dragging out the talks. Yushchenko is pushing to be declared the outright winner — or for a fast revote to capitalize on the momentum generated by the protests.
European Union (news - web sites) foreign policy chief Javier Solana arrived in Kiev on Tuesday. Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and the secretary general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe, Jan Kubis, were expected to arrive Wednesday.
The speaker of the Russian parliament, Boris Gryzlov, and Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus were also expected to participate in the talks.
Mediators helped arrange talks between Yanukovych and Yushchenko last Friday, but the opposition pulled out of those talks on Tuesday.
Yanukovych suggested Tuesday he could agree to a proposal for a new election — but that both he and Yushchenko should bow out if one is held.
"If this election brings a split in the country ... I'm ready to drop my bid along with him," Yanukovych said.
Yushchenko ignored the proposal. He also rebuffed the offer of the prime minister's post under a Yanukovych presidency, saying it fell far short of a solution.
"The election was rigged," he said. "People are asking whether this country has a political elite capable of upholding a fair vote."
Yushchenko has led the opposition for years and was long seen as its candidate in a country where millions are yearning for change after Kuchma's 10-year rule. Kuchma anointed Yanukovych as his favored successor last spring, hoping his prominence as prime minister would attract votes.
Both campaigns are pinning their hopes on the Supreme Court, which convened for a third day to consider Yushchenko's appeal for the official results to be annulled. The opposition has presented its allegations of fraud and demanded Yushchenko be named the winner based on his narrow edge in the election's first round on Oct. 31. It remains unclear when a ruling will come.
The political crisis stoked fears of Ukraine's breakup. Yushchenko draws his support from the Ukrainian-speaking west and the capital, while Yanukovych's base is the Russian-speaking, industrialized east.
The West has refused to recognize the results, while Russia — which still has considerable influence over Ukraine — congratulated Yanukovych and complained of Western meddling.
This is an amazing story. I find it very interesting.
self-bump 4 later
Ultimate example of fraud : two hundred voting with a button without paper trail declare invalid an election of twenty million votes on paper, with more than one million votes margin of victory.
Great news! Now the world is awake and everyone is flying in to oversee the situation, I think Putin got caught with his hand in the cookie jar this time. Interesting, if Donetsk does win autonomy from Kiev, as the author states, Ukraine could become a federation with more regional sovereignty - and perhaps the Russian regions would follow suit. Victory for freedom.
Donetsk is getting ready to vote to seek autonomy (Or to put in in terms which is easier for me to digest, they want to secede from the union)??? This has civil war written all over it. Hopefully they can pull back from the brink.
Putin is trying to resurrect the evil "Evil Empire".
I don't trust any of these furriners. :)
"Interesting, if Donetsk does win autonomy from Kiev, as the author states, Ukraine could become a federation with more regional sovereignty - and perhaps the Russian regions would follow suit. Victory for freedom."
What interest does Ukraine have in having its industries stolen by Kuchma's buddies and then letting them have their own country to avoid prosecution?
Ukraine will get rid of these crooks and then get redress on all these businesses that were sold for 10 cents on the dollar.
"Ultimate example of fraud : two hundred voting with a button without paper trail declare invalid an election of twenty million votes on paper, with more than one million votes margin of victory."
Truth, you never shared your thoughts on what happened to Yushchenko's face after meeting with Kuchma's people for dinner.
Bad Sushi, right? And what about those million sneaky CIA agents dressed in orange making it seem like those are Ukrainians in Kiev?
And all those headless journalists and the 10 million dead kulaks were victims of irritable bowel syndrome, right.
So, how's business?
bmp
There, but for the Grace of God...
Give Putin's "federation" the Crimea and the Black Sea ports? No thanks.
I smell Putin...
I don't see Russia standing idly by and giving up it's baltic and black sea ports.
For Moscow, and for that matter Beijing, Pyongyang and Tehran, Western influence (Nato, EU, US) is certainly a threat to their systems. They won't sit still for that and let the Ukraine migrate into our system.
You all may be very well staring into the beginnings of world war 3.
I wonder what Condi thinks of all this. To be a fly on the wall....
The Eastern Ukraine has too many Yushenko supporters and others who do not want to see the Ukraine split up. I doubt we'll see a split.
The Ukraine permits Russia its legacy naval bases on the Black Sea. It has other mutual defense agreements with Russia.
Is it possible that "people power" is similar to "mob rule"?
Yes! It certainly is!! The "tyranny of the majority" and stuff like that!!!
However... Representatives in Representative Republics that use a democratic process had best be careful not to pick fights with "the will of the people!" And the judiciary in this country had better stop over-riding that "will" before they create utter "contempt of court"!!! (referring to Props 187 (CA) and 200 (AZ))
Does anyone else notice how lines of political force are beginning to take shape around regional divisions in countries throughout the "free" world? (Red vs Blue Counties, east Ukraine vs west Ukraine, etc.)
I wish that I knew enough about this situation to make an informed opinion.
So I will have to wait for the Washington Post, NY Slimes and LA Slimes to come out for one side. Then I will know to be against their position.
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