Blue &Yellow: Politics and Economics in Ukraine

 First, he said that there are no legitimate grounds for an early dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada because there is no decision by the Constitutional Court. Second, the President is ready to “meet [the parliamentarians] halfway” and pass a resolution to dissolve parliament. However, for this to happen a series of laws have to be passed, in particular election laws should be amended to make parties lists open and abolish parliamentary immunity.

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Yushchenko also said that Tymoshenko offered him her support of the amendments to the Constitution to have the president elected in parliament. In Yushchenko’s words, there was a draft of the Constitution drawn up in June through August 2008 and aimed at dividing power between two political forces.

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The best was last: after the live broadcast was over the President announced his political “will”: he wants to have an effective democratic European Constitution. We all know from our own experience when this kind of a document is typically drawn up. The journalists asked him whether the statement about the political “will” implied his non-participation in the upcoming presidential elections. The president broke the fixed stereotypes: it appears that in Yushchenko’s understanding a will is not someone’s last request but something different. He replied in a straightforward and surprisingly concise manner: “I am going [to run for president]. It is quite obvious.”