Yuschenko and the Rada

After seeing his party, Nasha Ukraine, lose a vote to support Georgia (in which every other party voted against the party).From BBC Ukraine, Yushchenko is threatening to dissolve the Rada. However,  his party may not muster enough votes in the next election. His new party United Center has no base of support. Thus, his desperate plea to threaten the Rada with elections in which the other parties would probably benefit more than his parties makes Yushchenko threat seem hollow. 

While the next presidential elections are not until 2010, Ukrainska Pravda reportsthat Yushchenko has announced is candidacy and claimed he will win. He also supports his party's decision to leave the coalition, yet as the de facto head of his party the decision would not have been made without his approval. Why his Yuschenko making these moves? Perhaps it was the scene of BYuT, Communists, Bloc Lytvyn, and Regions voting together that triggered this latest blow up (from BBC Ukraine). The parties voted to strengthen the government, but Radio Free Liberty reports that 

"This law establishes a dictatorship of the prime minister. It puts the head of the government above the constitution," Yushchenko said.

"Presidential decrees and decisions of the National Security and Defense Council are ignored completely. The changes to the law on the Constitutional Court make it impossible to appeal an unconstitutional ruling of the court. The government is outside any control, and the basic balance of government is ruined."

A similar law expanding the powers of the cabinet of ministers was already passed by the BYuT and the Party of Regions in December 2006 and reaffirmed, following a presidential veto, in January 2007. So, is this just another example of Ukrainian deja vu? 
The president may fear that the parties united against him may go further if left unprovoked and make more constitutional changes that would make the prime minister the dominant political actor in the government. Euarsia Daliy Monitor (Volume 5, Issue 171)  listed writes that the changes included

 simplifying the impeachment procedure, forbidding the president from suspending cabinet resolutions by referring them to the Constitutional Court, and depriving the president of the rights to choose the prosecutor-general, the security service chief, and the regional governors

EDM also cites ByuT and PRs' recent behavior, which suggested the parties were moving close together,
 Parliament has already managed to overrun several of Yushchenko’s most recent vetoes...PRU and BYT set up an ostensibly pro-Russian ad-hoc investigative commission to probe arms supplies to Georgia.
 Yushchenko said later that NUNS would return to the coalition with BYT on two conditions: if BYT helps him veto the “anti-constitutional” laws passed on September 2-4, and if it backs his position on Georgia, including his condemnation of Russia’s use of the Sevastopol-based Black Sea Fleet in actions against Georgia.

at Wednesday, September 03, 2008

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