Blue &Yellow: Politics and Economics in Ukraine

After his election a decade ago in Russia, it took Vladimir Putin his entire first term in office to accomplish what Yanukovych has undertaken in less than a year. Yanukovych has taken five steps to remove obstacles to the monopolization of power. The first to go were parliament, which has become a rubber stamp institution, followed by television whose oligarch owners rushed to prove their loyalty to the new regime. The third, on October 1, was Ukraine’s return to a presidential constitution and a month later the Party of Regions won a majority in local councils in a bitterly contested election.

These four steps were followed by a fifth, a coordinated attack on the main opposition force, the Fatherland (Batkivshchina) Party led by Yulia Tymoshenko. “October 31 will go down in history as the first day of an election without Yulia Tymoshenko,” observed Ukrayinska Pravda (November 1). Registration of clone, fake lists of Fatherland candidates removed Batkivshchina from two key strongholds, Lviv and Kyiv, while an “anti-corruption” campaign unveiled financial irregularities in the 2007-2010 Tymoshenko government that harmed her image.

The assessment by Taras Kuzio  for Eurasia Daily Monitor (Volume7, Issue 203- no link)  of the local elections neatly sums up the consolidation of power under Yanukovych. Many of the issues presented by Kuzio have been discussed on this blog, but not the next step for the president.

Ukrayinska Pravda analyst (September 24) Leshchenko positively portrayed the divisions within the Party of Regions suggesting “Maybe these will halt the final destruction of democracy in our state.” With Yanukovych having completed five stages in his political monopolization of Ukraine, the sixth –removal of oligarchs– could be his next target. The next two years will likely decide whether Ukraine becomes a Putin-style managed democracy without oligarchs or if the oligarchs fight back (EDM, September 22). 

Emphasis mine, Yanukovych heads into his first year as president with complete control over the political system. However, now comes the tough part, dealing with the oligarchs. Naturally, now that the local elections are over Ukraine will revamp its election legislation, but Regions denies there was electoral  fraud.