Ukraine's latest revolt hews 'Blue'

Protesters have hit the streets this week amid a constitutional crisis that has caused political gridlock.

from the April 17, 2007 edition

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The Constitutional Court has agreed to begin hearings on April 17, but that is also the legal deadline for all parties to register for the snap elections, meaning the immediate crisis is likely to go unresolved.

"For us, there is no way out but through the cancellation of the president's unconstitutional decree," says Vasyl Khara, head of the Party of Regions caucus in the embattled Rada. Otherwise, he says, the Blue coalition may refuse to take part in the May 27 polls.

In the past week, five judges of the 18-member Constitutional Court abruptly resigned, citing unspecified "threats" and "political pressure." Three more judges were checked into the hospital over the weekend with unspecified medical complaints. Experts say the court can continue to operate with a 10-member quorum, but that the episode raises worries that Ukraine's fledgling institutions may not be able to contain the escalating dispute.

"It will be very unfortunate if, after all this turmoil, we don't develop better checks and balances in our system," says Vira Nanivska, president of the official National Academy for Public Administration in Kiev.

At a Kiev rally last week, Yanukovich said that he would vacate the Rada only if Yushchenko agrees to face the voters, too. "If we hold early elections, they must be parliamentary and presidential, and held within the framework of current legislation," he said. That solution might also appeal to the ambitious Yulia Tymoshenko, who leads the Orange-hued All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland party and who has made little secret of her impatience with Yushchenko, her cautious ex-ally.

For his part, Yushchenko said in a speech last Thursday that he's not wedded to the May 27 date for new parliamentary polls and that he would allow deputies to reconvene in the Rada to decide on a fresh date.

But polls suggest that a new election may only reproduce the current stalemate. Experts warn that failure to find a compromise will lead to a permanent crisis and, in the worst case, even Ukraine's breakup. Deep divisions between the country's heavily industrialized, Russified east and its agricultural, Ukrainian-speaking, and pro-European west, seem certain to continue generating conflict over flash point issues like NATO membership, economic cooperation with Russia, and official status for the Russian language. Until Ukraine's Constitutional Court renders a decision or one of the antagonists blinks, the country's worst political crisis since the collapse of the USSR is likely to go rolling on.

"Our political competition is not between right and left, but between east and west, and this is a potential disaster," says Ms. Nanivska.

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