NUNS, realising they are the new 'king-makers' in the Ukrainian parliament, have decided that any new prime minister has to be one of their guys whether or not they remain in coalition with BYuT, or dump Tymoshenko and sign-up with PoR .
President Yanukovych stated recently that he would like one of, Mykola Azarov, Serhiy Tihipko, or Arseniy Yatsenyuk to replace Yulia Tymoshenko as PM. Tihipko was not invited to today's inauguration and said he would watch it at home on television - not a good sign. Oddly, he was seen skulking around the VR during the inauguration ceremony.
NUNS will not go with Azarov. and both Tihipko and Yatsenyuk, having dropped out in the first round, pointedly refused to support either Tymoshenko or Yanukovych in the presidential run-off, so the new president has no obligations to either of them. Yanuovych is well aware of the dangers of selecting a prime minister brighter, younger and more energetic that he is.
Early elections would be a disaster for NUNS and PoR could lose out to Tihiko's and Yatseniuk's new political forces so fixing a stable coalition is priority number one for Yanukovych. As for the Lytvyn Bloc, the third member of any new coalition, they most probably would be wiped out in any early election. In any case the major political players' financial sponsors have little money left for new election campaigns.
Former NUNS prime minister and old Kuchma hand Yuriy Yehanurov's name has also been mentioned as potential new prime minister - but why go with the monkey when you can have the organ grinder himself - Viktor Yushchenko?
Last December a secret document, supposedly a Yushchenko-Yanukovych deal, was leaked by a highly-placed official in the president's secretariat. It was all quickly hushed up as I recall - television reports were abruptly terminated in a style reminiscent of Ceausescu's Romania. The deal was then immediately denounced by its alleged signatories as a low-grade canard.
Paragraph 4 of the document stated: "[Both] sides guarantee to propose V.A. Yushchenko for the post of prime minister and to vote for his candidature in a [newly formed?] parliamentary majority."
We won't have long to wait long to find out if this was all balony..
This could be Our Ukraine's down fall as they seek to repeat the events of 2006. Its their way or the highway.
ReplyDeletePeople's Self Defense are also not too keen to be breaking up the faction and supporting a new governing coalition.
Of course there has been a lot of speculation about a Yushchenko/Yanukovych deal (All indications are that there was some deal made).
Party of Regions will lose out if Yushchenko is appointed PM. They will lose all credibility and it would undermine authority in Yankelovich's presidency and bring into doubt his personal sincerity. Yushchenko can not be trusted as a coalition partner. At the first sign of disagreement they will try and determine the outcome. A partnership can only allow a minoroty sharholding to dictate term so much. Our Ukraine are not known to embrace compromise or provide stable government.