Ukraine Today - An Independent Political Review

OPINION : Ukraine - consensus in conflict Contributed by Roland Nash, Chief Strategist, Renaissance Capital MOSCOW, Feb 21 (Prime-Tass) -- A couple of weeks ago at our conference in Kiev, I talked politics with my cab driver. We agreed that the outlook was bleak. March elections looked likely to produce an unstable coalition government led by one of a range of equally unsavoury potential Prime Ministers. But, I suggested, unlike Russia, at least Ukraine had democracy. The people had earned the right to choose through their courage and determination during the Orange Revolution. The taxi driver nodded his agreement. I said that no matter what the short-term issues, in the longer term, democracy was a much more secure political foundation than the authoritarianism towards which Russia was tending. The driver said that he was no fan of Putin. Perhaps partly in the hope of a lower cab fare, I said that being British I could assure him that Ukrainians stood a good chance of eventually becom

Extract from Kyiv Post Coalition building to test politicians by Evgenia Mussuri, Kyiv Post Staff Writer Feb 15 2006, 23:46 With just over five weeks before parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place, political blocs are trying to figure out how they are going to create a majority in the new legislature. According to recent polls, 2004 presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions is ahead, followed by President Viktor Yushchenko’s People’s Union Our Ukraine and the bloc of former Premier Yulia Tymoshenko. Even though analysts say it is hard to tell exactly which factions will form a majority after the March 26 election, one thing is clear: if a coalition is to be established, it will have to be a configuration which includes at least two of the above three blocs. According to Ukrainian legislation, the new parliament will have to form a majority of at least 226 seats within a month after the elections. Otherwise, the president is entitled to dismiss the legislat

Extact of Opinion piece published 17-Feb-2006 RIA - The published poll data is significantly different then other polls published. No source indicated --- Extract of article below --- MOSCOW. (Yevgeny Kozhokin for RIA Novosti.) - Today Ukraine is facing several serious challenges at once. The first, in the domestic politics, has been brought about by the country's political reform, which has transformed the form of government from a presidential and parliamentary republic into a parliamentary one since January 1, 2006. The question arises whether Ukraine's diverse political forces will be able to find a stable compromise and form an efficient and professional government after the March parliamentary elections. Other challenges, both in domestic and foreign policy, reflect the split in society and the elite, when one part of Ukraine strives for a fast Euro-Atlantic integration, while the other chooses the opposite, eastern direction. The constitutional reform eliminated the cou

Link http://www.unian.net/eng/news/print-98386.html Source National Institute of Strategic Research Date February 10, 2006 14:12 Name of the party or electoral bloc PR Party of Regions (PR) NS-NU Bloc 'Our Ukraine' (NS-NU) BYuT Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) KPU Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU) SPU Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) LPB Lytvyn's People's Bloc (LPB) NVB Nataliya Vitrenko Bloc 'People's Opposition' (NVB) CBP Civil Bloc PORA-PRP' (CBP) UPBKP Ukrainian People's Bloc of Kostenko and Plyusch OBNY Oppositional bloc NOT YES! (OBNY) Party Block Poll% Vote% Seats% No of Seats PR 23.00% 27.00% 27.41% 12

Link Source Razumkov Center Date February 10, 2006 Name of the party or electoral bloc PR Party of Regions (PR) NS-NU Bloc 'Our Ukraine' (NS-NU) BYuT Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) KPU Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU) SPU Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) NVB Nataliya Vitrenko Bloc 'People's Opposition' (NVB) LPB Lytvyn's People's Bloc (LPB) CBP Civil Bloc PORA-PRP' (CBP) UPBKP Ukrainian People's Bloc of Kostenko and Plyusch OBNY Oppositional bloc NOT YES! (OBNY) Party Block Poll% Vote% Seats% No of Seats PR 29.90% 35.34% 37.38% 168 NS-NU 19.60% 23.17% 24.50% 110 BYuT 13.70% 16.19% 17.13% 77 KPU 6.80% 8.04% 8.50% 38 SPU 6.70% 7.92% 8.38% 38 NVB 2.00% 2.36% LPB 3.30% 3.90% 4.13% 19 CBP 1.10% 1.30% UPBKP 0.00% 0.00% OBNY 1.50% 1.77% Others (Poll) 0.00% 0.00% Sum 84.60% 100.00% 100.00% 450 Informal 0.00% not vote 0.00% no response 0.00% Balance Unknown 15.40% Summary Stats 100.00% Please Note: The poll has an undisclosed balance of 15.4% if thi

Link http://www.kiis.com.ua/eng/doc/09022006/press09022006.doc Source Kiev International Institute of Sociology Date February 9, 2006 Poll Date: 18-28 January, 2006 Name of the party or electoral bloc PR Party of Regions (PR) NS-NU Bloc 'Our Ukraine' (NS-NU) BYuT Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) KPU Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU) SPU Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) LPB Lytvyn's People's Bloc (LPB) NVB Nataliya Vitrenko Bloc 'People's Opposition' (NVB) CBP Civil Bloc PORA-PRP' (CBP) GRN Green Party (Grn) UPBKP Ukrainian People's Bloc of Kostenko and Plyusch OBNY Oppositional bloc NOT YES! (OBNY) Party Block Poll% Vote% Seats% No of Seats PR 29.90% 39.08% 42.78% 192 NS-NU 18.50% 24.18% 26.47% 119 BYuT 10.40% 13.59% 14.88% 67 KPU 4.50% 5.88% 6.44% 29 SPU 4.00% 5.23% 5.72% 26 LPB 2.60% 3.40% 3.72% 17 NVB 1.30% 1.70% CBP 0.70% 0.92% GRN 0.60% 0.78% UPBKP 0.50% 0.65% OBNY 0.50% 0.65% Others 3.00% 3.92% Sum 76.50% 100.00% 100.00% 450 Undecided 13.50% Balan