Musical chairs

When Tymoshenko was asked in a recent TV interview about her candidature for the PM's position, she replied: "I've been giving 'leg ups' to men in politics for too long. How can you look 4 million people in the eye at meetings, and then later agree that the prime minister should be a [cat in a bag] 'pig in a poke' and accept the nonsense that this person does?"

She later talked of "de-oligarchization" of the country, tapping into a widespread feeling amongst the orange electorate that persons responsible for the worst excesses of the Kuchma regime have somehow escaped justice, and worse, are burrowing their way back into political structures.

Yushchenko, in today's 'Wall Street Journal,' while not mentioning Tymoshenko by name, speaks of .."a game of musical chairs, where party leaders are more interested in ministerial portfolios and prized legislative committee chairmanships than reaching specific policy goals.."

Tymoshenko's economic record and programs may certainly be questioned, but the numbers on the Central Electoral Committee plasma screens cannot. Any delay by NSNU to confirm Tymoshenko as PM in a future Orange government will erode even more NSNU's support and Yushchenko's authority amongst the Ukrainian electorate. NSNU and BYuT politicians at regional level are already accepting reality and are agreeing to work together.

'If BYuT become the largest Orange party, then Tymoshenko will be PM in any Orange coalition,' was the central plank of BYuT's election campaign. In a feisty interview in 'Izvestiya' she again makes her position very clear. She is not interested in being Parliamentary speaker or a 'technical' [that word again] prime minister.

The music stopped and musical chairs finished on March 26th - some of NSNU's leaders are beginning to look like bad losers.