Last Friday President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych agreed to hold new parliamentary elections - a move expected to put an end to their bitter month-long political standoff.
Yushchenko called the accord reached with his rival "a victory for common sense" and did not rule out further compromise in the shape of a change to the election date of June 24 he set two weeks ago. "The most important thing is our agreement on the decision in principle to hold early parliamentary elections," he told reporters after the meeting with Yanukovych.
Yushchenko signed a decree last month dissolving the 450-seat legislature and ordering new parliamentary elections for late May, accusing Yanukovych of trying to usurp power by wooing pro-presidential lawmakers over to the governing coalition in the Verkhovna Rada. Yanukovych's Party of Regions and other government parties refused to recognise the decree and referred it to the Constitutional Court, plunging the country into a tense political standoff. Unable to obtain funding for the election from the Yanukovych's government, Yushchenko partially backed down by postponing the election until June 24 but stressed he remained committed to holding an early ballot.
Speaking on the possibility of another delay, Yushchenko referred to the need to reform inadequate electoral legislation, changes to the state budget to ensure proper campaign funding and the need to make technical and administrative preparations.
"The main goal is to conduct honest democratic elections," Yanukovych said following the meeting. The Prime Minister also urged his supporters to vote. "It is the Ukrainian people who will decide which politician is responsible and which politician has the right to look into the people's eyes honestly."
This agreement between the Ukraine's globally-renowned political enemies was preceded by the increasing pressure on Yushchenko from the Verkhovna Rada, which had been calling for simultaneous early presidential and parliamentary elections no later than December 9.
In response, Yushchenko fired two Constitutional Court judges in as many days in what the ruling coalition called a pre-emptive attempt by the President to prevent the Court's decision on the legality of his early elections decree going against him. The Rada accused Yushchenko of "driving Ukraine onto a path of anarchy and chaos" and asked the President not to dismiss it until lawmakers changed electoral legislation to ensure "free and fair elections."
Communist lawmaker Petro Tsybenko accused Yushchenko of making an "attempted coup d'etat" and called for a medical examination of Yushchenko "to check his competence" and vaccination "against political madness" for the President's allies.
PM appearing confident
Although Yanukovych said that he would accept any outcome of the vote, he has been demonstrating more clearly than ever his confidence in retaining power. He restored the Soviet-era right of national leaders to block public traffic on routes traveled by their motorcades, which caused huge traffic jams on the road leading from Kyiv to his country residence in the village of Novi Petrivtsi. The Prime Minister lives in a two-storey 150 square-metre house which was built in the 1960s as a country residence for Soviet Ukraine's leaders. In 2006, Yushchenko granted Yanukovych's perpetual tenure on the property.
Yanukovych is also constructing a country resort in a 12-hectare forest reserve in Feofania near Kyiv, raising concerns from nature conservation groups that the development could damage wildlife.
The hopeful
Yanukovych is often portrayed as an old-school Soviet-style administrator, hard-working and unemotional with an iron hand and no fear of crude tactics. His numerous supporters, particularly in the industrial eastern Ukraine where he originates from, see him as a symbol of stability associated with the all-embracing state influence of Soviet times.
"He is a man of business, and he will put the country in order. Yanukovych has a clear interest in the development of business, especially international, in Ukraine because he wants to bring more money into the country, and he'll do his best," said Oleksandr Morozov, a businessman from the eastern industrial city of Donetsk now living in Kyiv. "He is also interested in Ukraine's positive international image because this will help attract international funds," he added.
According to recent opinion polls conducted by the Kyiv-based Sofia Centre for Social Studies, some 33.6% of Ukrainians would vote for Yanukovych in a presidential election, 15.5% for Yulia Tymoshenko and 13.5% for Yushchenko. The polls also showed that one-third of respondents blame Yushchenko of the current crisis. Some 33.2% of respondents said they backed Yanukovych's Party of Regions, 17.6% Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko, and 13.9% Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party, while 5.5% supported nobody and 9.8% said they did not intend to vote at all.
The cynical
Increasing numbers of people have been demonstrating their declining patience over the politicians' handling of the crisis. "No beer!" read a handwritten sign stuck on the entrance door into a small food and beverage store facing Khreshchatyk Street in central Kyiv. The manager, who identified herself as Iryna, said city officials banned the shop from selling alcohol while political rallies were being held in the vicinity "for the sake of public order." She said the store had suffered "horrifying losses" as a result of the restriction. "I don't care who's in power," she said. "I trust neither the orange nor the blue. Both are liars manipulating the people so let them bite one another to death in their fight for power. I just want my business to do well."
