Ukraine Today - An Independent Political Review

It is false and misleading to portray the current crisis facing Ukraine as a pro-west and pro-Russian struggle. It is not. Far from it It is more a case of a struggle for power between the President and opposition forces versus the Parliament and Government. Those that continue to portray it as a pro-west/pro Russian conflict do so in order to try and influence world media by pandering to false stereo-types. There is no legal justification for the dismissal of the Parliament. The President, who is aligned with the opposition forces, continues to act not in Ukraine's best interest. The March 2006 parliamentary elections are considered to be the most open and democratic elections in Ukraine's history since declaring independence. The Opposition have been calling for fresh parliamentary elections following their failure to negotiate support and agreement to form a governing coalition. The opposition are acting more out of spite then being a responsible government. The crisis manuf

In a month of ongoing political conflict caused by the recent alliance and creation of an opposition coalition between various members of Our Ukraine and Yulia Tymoshenko block has generated tension and further division within Ukraine. Encouraged by a new found partnership of convenience Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine had embarked on a deliberate campaign of destabilization of Ukraine's political and democratic development. At the centre of the pending political crisis was Ukraine's President, Victor Yushchenko, and his power and right of veto. The President under Ukraine's constitution has the right to veto any legislation as he sees fit to veto. A power that is widely open to abuse. In order to over-ride the President’s right of Veto the Parliament requires a statutory 2/3rds majority vote of the Parliament. Recently Yulia Tymoshenko forced the hand of the President by backing proposals by the Government to pass legislation on the law of Cabinet of Ministers. This tempo

Publication Source: Angus Reid Global Monitor - Viktor Yanukovich would defeat several other politicians in Ukraine’s next presidential election, according to a poll by the Ukrainian Institute of Sociology and the Social Monitoring Centre. 27 per cent of respondents would vote for the current prime minister and leader of the Party of Regions (PR). Polling Data Question : Which of these candidates would you vote for in the next presidential election? Viktor Yanukovych 27% (PoR) Yulia Tymoshenko 20% (BYuT) Viktor Yushchenko 10% (OU) Petro Symonenko 7% (CPU) Yuri Lutsenko 4% (NP) Oleksandr Moroz 3% (SPU) Against all 7% Undecided 9% Would not vote 6% Unkown 7% Source: Ukrainian Institute of Sociology / Social Monitoring CentreMethodology: Interviews with 2,118 Ukrainian adults, conducted in February and March 2007. No margin of error was provided.