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Nation    

Prez to take constitution case to people
Journal Staff Report

KIEV, May 27 – President Viktor Yushchenko threatened to call a referendum if Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the opposition Regions Party create an alliance to amend Constitutional provisions governing the way the next president is elected.

The reaction comes after Tymoshenko and Regions Party leader Viktor Yanukovych resumed talks over the alliance and the amendments, which call for electing the next president in Parliament, scrapping popular vote.

“I will immediately call a referendum once these agreements materialize,” Yushchenko said in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta, a Russian daily newspaper, the presidential press service reported Wednesday.

The comment suggests there was a potential for a major political confrontation and a constitutional deadlock that in the worst-case scenario may trigger serious standoff in Ukraine.

At the referendum, which will probably be opposed by other political groups, Yushchenko may seek the people’s support for his own amendments to the constitution that are currently being studied by a team of European legal experts.

The talks between Tymoshenko and Yanukovych resumed earlier this month after the Constitutional Court on May 13 had rejected October 25 as the date for the next presidential election.

The ruling will most likely force lawmakers to re-schedule the election to January 17, 2010, de-facto giving more time Tymoshenko and Yanukovych for the talks.

The talks, however, have not yet produced any major breakthrough, according to people familiar with the situation.

Two senior members of the Regions Party said there was a 50% chance the Tymoshenko-Yanukovych alliance would materialize, while one lawmaker said there was 65% chance in favor of the alliance.

The election of the next president in Parliament is apparently aimed against Arseniy Yatseniuk, 35, a popular former parliamentary speaker, whose popularity has been growing sharply over the past four months.

At least one opinion poll suggested that Yatseniuk could defeat both, Tymoshenko and Yanukovych, if he faces them in the runoff.

But most of the polls show Yatseniuk being the No. 3, trailing just behind Tymoshenko. Yanukovych is the frontrunner in all polls.

Yatseniuk last month called the Tymoshenko-Yanukovych talks a “collusion” to split power between the two.

The idea of electing the president in Parliament is not popular with Ukrainian voters who like to directly cast their ballots for the head of state, analysts said.

The alliance, if created, would leave Tymoshenko as the prime minister perhaps through 2015, while electing Yanukovych as the next president, the people said.

Most of financial and economic posts in the government, such as the finance minister and economic minister, will also be controlled by the Regions Party, the people said.

Yushchenko said lawmakers should focus on amending the constitution, but the amendments must win approval from broad political spectrum to ensure consolidation among groups.

“It’s super important around what goals we unite,” Yushchenko said. “If we unite for the sake of bringing in democratic model of government, this must be welcomed.”

“But if the alliance serves only one thing - how to usurp power and to fix this usurpation in various areas of the government for several five-year terms, I am convinced that this is a challenge, and not only for the Ukrainian democracy,” Yushchenko said. (tl/ez)




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