Swearing in?

An interesting thing happened in the Rada today. (The Rada is the national legislature here in Ukraine.) They had a special session to debate the election results but none of the pro government party was there and neither was the communist party. There were only deputies there from parties that support Yuschenko, the Our Ukraine party and the Socialists. This meant there was no majority there and no business could be transacted. They just were there to talk. At least that was the idea.

But the speaker could not control the deputies. They were agitating to install Yuschenko in power. He would say, “We need to remember what we are here for and we can’t address these other issues.” When one of the deputies moved that Yuschenko be sworn in as president, the Speaker closed the session and left. None of the deputies left with him, however, and they moved the issue in his absence. It passed unanimously. So Yuschenko went to the front, put his hand on the Bible and took the oath of office.

When it was said that this was not legal, the response was, “Was the election legal? No one is following the law in Ukraine.”

The deputies finished up singing the Ukrainian national anthem.

Things get interestinger and interestinger.

Read about it here.