PACE Monitoring Committee co-rapporteur Renate Wohlwend, speaking to reporters in Kyiv today, said: "Conducting two elections without previously passed necessary laws cannot take place [in Ukraine]. Moreover, we could warn [Ukraine] against this."
She said that PACE see no judicial grounds to conduct these [presidential and parliamentary] elections on one day, because "this could lead to greater chaos than provide positives."
Naturally, the president's press office put a different spin on their boss's meeting with Mrs Wohlwend and her PACE colleague.
p.s. The latest gossipy article in 'Obozrevatel' written by the knowledgeable Sonya Koshkina concludes:
"Speaking of PR[y]BYuT in a more global context, not as a coalition but rather mutually beneficial co-operation, then the phrase of a person close to Rinat Akhmetov - "Rinat has come to terms with Yulia, as a necessary evil," has taken wing.
If by some chance presidential insignia do fall upon Tymoshenko, the Donetskiites will be able to come to agreement with her in an amicable manner.
Contact between Rinat Leonidovych and Yulia Volodymyrivna is now highly intensive and takes place not only through mediators...it goes without saying, Yanukovych cannot but know about this...he saw the PM at least twice last week."
In 2007 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in its resolution and report dated April 17 and titled Functioning of democratic institutions in Ukraine recommended "It would be better for the country to switch to a full parliamentary system with proper checks and balances and guarantees of parliamentary opposition and competitionThe report also condemned Victor Yushchenko for his unconstitutional interference in the operation and independence of Ukraine's Constitutional Court.
ReplyDeleteUkraine at the time was facing its worst political and constitutional crisis following Yushchenko's unconstitutional and illegal dismissal of Ukraine's previous Parliament.
PACE at the time had called on the constitutional Court to make its ruling.
Having rightly expressed concern about pressure being exerted on the Courts PACE then failed the people of Ukraine by not following up on this issue.
PACE at the time knew that the President's actions were unconstitutional and illegal yet they remained silent as Ukraine faced seven months of political turmoil and instability.
As a consequence of PACE's failure to act they had indirectly contributed to the instability of Ukraine by not insisting that "Rule of Law" and compliance with of Ukraine's constitution.
In the process PACE had also undermined its own credibility and standing.
On one hand they were right in insisting that Ukraine resolve this conflict and that the Courts should be the final arbitrator.
But they failed to follow up and insist that the rule of law must prevail.
Two years down the track Victor Yushchenko has sought to dismiss yet again Ukraine's Parliament,
Yushchenko attempts to undermine Ukraine's Parliamentary governance has taken its toll on Ukraine's economy and democratic development and his own standing.
In the absence of meaningful constitutional change there is little point or benefit for Ukraine to another round of Parliamentary elections.
In 2007 Yushchenko rejected the proposal of simultaneous elections as a way to end the political crisis.
In 2009 as his term of office comes to a close Yushchenko in a desperate attempt to cling on to power and again destabilise Ukraine's economic and democratic development embraces a policy that he should have supported two years earlier.
In 2007 simultaneous elections would have resolved the crisis. Today it would only prolong it.
With the President's term of office coming to an end Ukraine needs to replace Yushchenko as its head of state and then embark on the process of constitutional change and embrace a European Parliamentary system of governance as recommend by PACE in its 2007 report.
Once it has address the issue of constitutional reform then yes Ukraine's parliament should then seek a new mandate under a new constitution but not before.
The forth-coming Presidential elections will be a referendum on Ukraine's future. A chance to correct the mistakes and lost opportunity of the past five years. A chance to embrace democracy relay the foundation stones of a true democratic state. But in order to do so, Ukraine MUST put an end to the politics of division, it must abandon the Soviet/US system of Presidential "rule by decree" dictatorship and embrace a European "Rule of Law" Parliamentary democracy.
Two years ago Yushchenko rejected the proposal to hold simultaneous presidential and Parliamentary elections.
ReplyDeleteback in 2007 they would have made a difference in that Yushchenko would have lost office.
Now that Yushchenko's term of office has come to an end and he will not be elected to a second term he all of a sudden supports simultaneous elections.
whilst Yushchenko's demise and replacement is welcomed Ukraine needs to initiate constitutional reform before it embarks on another round to parliamentary elections.
With Yushchenko out of the game there is still hope for Ukraine, but they still have six more months of enduring this fool of fools for a President.
Ukraine without Yushchenko is the way to go.