Ukraine Today - An Independent Political Review

President Viktor Yanukovych (second from left) shakes hands in this Aug. 17 photograph with close ally Volodymyr Kolesnichenko, head of Ukraine’s High Council of Justice, which appoints judges. Anatoly Golovin, also a close presidential ally who heads Ukraine’s Constitutional Court, is at left. Oleksandr Pasaniuk, head of the High Administrative Court, is at right. All three are recent appointees. (Mykhailo Markiv) Stacked Justice Source: Kyiv Post - Graham Stack, Peter Byrne and Yuriy Onyshkiv Ukrainians will almost certainly get major changes to the Constitution, whether they like it or not. To change the Constitution in a way that gives him and future presidents more power, President Viktor Yanukovych will benefit greatly from a friendly Constitutional Court that ratifies any new document. But have his supporters stacked the 18-member judicial body with Party of Regions supporters to ensure that the court sanctions ...

Ukraine's Constitutional Court will commence consideration of what will be one its most significant decisions in Ukraine's history. It will decide if Ukraine winds back the clock and restore a presidential autocratic state. One of the main outcomes of the 2004 "Orange Revolution" was Constitutional reform negotiated as part of a settlement of the civil unrest and crisis facing Ukraine. The constitutional changes saw Ukraine remove power from the central presidential authority and shift more towards a European style Parliamentary democracy. The Presidential system of authority has been the main problem facing Ukraine's development since its declaration of independence. Unlike other former soviet states such as Estonia and Latvia Ukraine did not adopt a parliamentary model of governance. It instead kept the soviet/US style presidential system. A system that has consistently failed Ukraine. In order to understand Ukraine;'s current situation you need ...