Wednesday, July 02, 2008

PoR propose amending Constitution

Today Party of Regions presented their proposed parliamentary bill to amend certain articles in the Constitution of Ukraine.

The main points:
  • Non aligned status for Ukraine
  • A single 'vertical' executive power structure
  • Judicial reform
  • Russian as a second state language
A 'Regiony' spokesman, Oleksandr Lavrynovych, claimed that it was "quite realistic and possible" 300 deputies' signatures could be collected in support of the bill. This could occur even by next week.

Other observers described as "minimal" the chances of PoR's constitutional project containing the points above being passed through parliament.

PoR currently have 175 deputies in the VR. Maybe they should go back and redo their homework.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

They're kidding, right?

Besides Russian as a language, they forgot to add making hot dogs and hamburgers the official state food in Ukraine.

In 1991, Ukraine was a nation of people yearning to be free.

In 2008, for 17 years, Ukraine is a nation of people learning to be free.

In that time, the Party of Regions' idea of good government is to use government to make Akhmetov and a few other thug oligarchs personally wealthy in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk.

It was only in 2004, in the Orange Revolution, that Ukraine finally got true freedom of the press, no thanks to Kuchma, and somewhat free elections, no thanks to Kuchma and the Party of Regions.

The sovok thugs learned very quickly how to cheat and steal, and rob the country blind.

In Kyiv, there was just a big demonstration, people went into the city fountains, to protest the centrally supplied hot water being turned off - for maintenance.

How are the roads in Ukraine? Why are oligarch thugs in big expensive Mercedes getting away with killing people on the roads?

The list of serious problems goes on.

And this is what the morons from the Party of Regions come up with.

Why not just change the name of the country to Akhmetovia?

After all, that's what Yushchenko thinks it is.

Anonymous said...

The devil is in the detail. I would very much like to see both Party of Regions proposed constitutional changes and also that of Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko's

I am very cautious about reports in the media of a weighted voting system that would see the highest polling party secure a majority of seats ion the parliament. Such a system would mirror the undemocratic "first-past-the-post" voting system used in the USA, England and Canada where a party with minority support can win a majority of seats in the Parliament.

On the positive side such a system would encourage the formation of a two party state and If BYuT and her former Orange allies could unite they would win a the highest percentage of the vote (Last year BYuT and OU-PSD combined represented 45% of the overall vote)

The issue of representation needs to be separated from the constitutional frame work of governance. A parliamentary system in line with other European States is clearly in Ukraine's best interest.

When considering constitutional reform it is essential that any assessment of the proposals is not based on the potential political outcome but MUST be based on sound democratic principles...One vote one value.

I would strongly advocate support for the April 2007 recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe who proposed that Ukraine adopt a full Parliamentary system.

A full parliamentary system would put an end to the divisive and destructive power struggle we have witnessed between the Parliament and the Office of the President.

On the question of representation, Ukraine should consider the establishment of 50 local electorates each electorate electing nine members of parliament on a 10% quota, open list Preferential Proportional Representation. Such a system would ensure that the electorate is represented fairly and democraticly. An open-list system would ensure that a member of parliament would retain a right of individual mandate and an obligation to the party in which they belong.

A preferential ballot system would ensure that voters who support minor candidates will not be disenfranchised and their vote will be used to determine who should best represent their interests.

Get the foundations and design of a democracy right and hopefully the people will be able to build a stable and democratic state based on true values reflecting the will of the people.

Anonymous said...

Ukraine, like that of Switzerland and Canada should consider adopting a number of state languages. What about Hungarian or Hutzel. They could even adopt English. I really do not see the Nationalistic push for a single language to be constructive.

Yes Ukrainian should be compulsory in schools but the choice of which language is used in a legal state is best if multiple languages are used.

My experience is that as people of Ukraine develop and young people learn Ukrainian they freely decide which language they wish to use.

Lets not forget that English is not the sole language of Britain.

There is no such thing as a free Press, It is Free Speech and Free choice that is important for any democracy. The free right to choice what language and culture one wished to adopt.

It is the diversity of Ukraine that should be protected. It is Ukraine's diversity that makes Ukraine what it is.

Nationalism is good for preserving culture but it is dangerous when mixed with politics and used as a political weapon to gain control.

Anonymous said...

The only thing I can say about the last comment is that it is way, way out of place.

Ukrainians are dying in the streets, literally cut in half, because wealthy people (mazhory) in expensive cars kill them - and get away with it.

The parliament (Rada) is in a gridlocked standstill, with people physically blocking the rostrum and podiums, turning off electricity, and refusing to hold sessions, because the oligarchs are continuing their pig fights, and because Yushchenko wants to make sure that Tymoshenko looks bad at any cost.

The roads are abysmal. Euro-2012 is in danger of being taken away from putative host country Ukraine, because Ukraine can't get its act together.

Akhmetov, at $31 billion, continues to use the government as a member of Parliament in order to enrich his businesses.

There is rampant corruption everywhere, including in the judiciary and prosecutor's offices, which have price lists for buying one's way out of criminal charges.

The centrally supplied hot water in Kyiv is turned off for 2 months, to the point where people demonstrate in the public fountains.

The roads are abysmal.

The list goes on.

But some idiot wants to focus on making rooshan a second state language.

Typical sovok idiot.

Anonymous said...

Some more on the language issue, particularly in Crimea / Sevastopol, coincidentally where I spent much of my recent stay. I'll attest to the large number of Russian flags. Even saw some young punks walking around in Russian flag t-shirts, the same day as the "Ukrainian Fleet Day" last week. (Everyone there chuckles at this, given the near-pitiful size of Ukraine's fleet vs. Russia's.)

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/05/22/ukraine-a-view-from-crimea/

Anonymous said...

Hans you should look more ccarefully as the crimean flag is similar to the Russian flag but different in the width of the bands.

Hans said...

True, the Russian and Crimean flags are similar looking, but the bands are in different order -- Russia is red, blue, white (bottom to top) while Crimea is red, white, blue. At first I confused the two a bit, but then began to catch on. Also, often the Russian flag was accompanied by the flag of the Russian fleet ("St. Andrew's cross," blue cross on a white field).