Ukraine: Yanukovych and the “Illegal Election”
Written byVeronica Khokhlova
Foreign Notes writes about Party of the Regions’ dilemma: “Will PoR be prepared to go into opposition as a result of elections its leadership consider illegal, if results are not it their favour? Will PoR be prepared to form a coalition with the party of a president who dismissed parliament and forced these ‘illegal’ elections…?”
Written byVeronica Khokhlova
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This question also applies to Yulia Tymoshcneko and the President.
The elections on September 30 will not resolve the current political crisis which is more of a struggle for power between the president and Ukraine’s democratically elected parliament then it is about policy or economic development.
The European Community has seriously erred in not insisting that the Court determine the legality of the president’s actions prior to endorsing fresh parliamentary election.
The legality of the election and the right of president to dismiss Ukraine’s democratically elected parliament is unresolved. Viktor Yushchenko illegal interference in the operation of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court has prevented the Court form ruling against the president’s decree.
Following the president’s intervention the Constitutional Court still has not ruled on the question of legality of the president’s actions.
Stepan Havrsh, the President’s appointee to the Constitutional Court, in prejudgment of the courts decision and without authorization from the Court itself, commented in an interview published on July 24
“ I cannot imagine myself as the Constitutional Court in condition in which three political leaders signed a political/legal agreement on holding early elections, which also stipulates the constitutional basis for holding the elections… How the court can agree to consider such a petition under such conditions. [9] ”
Olexander Lavrynovych, Ukrainian Minister for Justice, in an interview published on Aug 3 is quoted as saying
“ According to the standards of the Constitution and the laws of Ukraine, these elections should have been recognized invalid already today. But we understand that we speak about the State and about what will happen further in this country. As we’ve understood, political agreements substitute for the law, … The situation has been led to the limit, where there are no possibilities to follow all legal norms.
In the absence of a ruling form Ukraine’s Constitutional Court it is unlikely that the current crisis and division will be resolved. To the contrary it is more like to exacerbate tension in Ukraine as is always the case when one side bends the rules to suit their political ambitions. What Ukraine needs the most is stability of government. Flesh parliamentary elections will not resolve the current crisis. First presidential elections might.