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| PHÎÒÎ: UNIAN |
Clear division of powers between the president, the Cabinet of Ministers and the parliament, open electoral tickets, elimination of privileges for parliamentarians, creation of executive bodies under local councils and local government elections– these issues are no longer relevant. The Party of Regions hopes to stay in power for at least ten years so they are quite satisfied with things as they are
The Regions believe that political modernization of the country that for the past five years has been mired in a permanent political crisis is up to a few top players. They are Chief-of-Staff of the Presidential Administration Serhiy Lyovochkin, Vice Premier of Regional Policy Viktor Tikhonov, the assistant chief-of-staff and Yanukovych’s personal human resource manager and Executive Secretary of the Council of Regions Stanislav Skubashevskiy.
On the other hand, after the revision of parliamentary procedural regulations and formation of the coalition, there is lull on then political reform front, if not to take into account the radical shakeup of the presidential power vertical through which members of the Donetsk clan were given governor posts in half the provinces of Ukraine. This is nothing other than pure mockery of one of Yanukovych´s campaign pledges: the election of local authorities should be conducted on a local level rather than through appointment from Kyiv.
Naturally, nobody is in a hurry to perform other pledges, i.e. the setting up of executive committees in local councils. For that matter, Yanukovych does not need the questionable loyalty of an executive committee, for example, under the Lviv legislature or even Donetsk council.
Moreover, after failing to find a suitable candidate for the mayor of Kyiv and an opportunity to win over the sympathies of Kyiv residents, and exploiting the fact that the capital´s mayor Leonid Chernovetsky is not the best example for promoting the expansion of the rights of local communities, the Party of Regions simply decided to limit the rights of Kyivans.
No, Kyivans will be allowed to elect their mayor, but there is a proposal to hand over the whole entirety of executive power to a person appointed by the president (i.e. the head of the Kyiv State City Administration). And that’s despite that the effective legislation and the ruling of the Constitutional Court that the Kyiv government may be headed only by a person elected by local residents as the city mayor.
Not surprising than that one of the country’s newly appointed vice premiers Viktor Tikhonov, the author of The Manifesto of Federalism or the Path to a Democratic State, who heavily relied on suspicious but authoritative figures like Mykhailo Hrushevskiy and Vyacheslav Chornovil, unexpectedly admitted that the country is just not ready for classical federalism.
The legislation on final and irrevocable separation of powers of the president, the Cabinet and the VR, the absence of which, according to the PoR, was the main source of political instability, is still being drafted. Keeping in mind how former presidents Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko resisted the adoption of the Law on President, we can easily assume that Yanukovych is in no hurry to see that bill passed. As long as the president remains on top of the pyramid of power, based on the dubious coalition and Azarov’s Cabinet, there is absolutely no need to separate anything. Moreover, it is doubtful that Yanukovych (keep in mind the parliamentary elections in 2012) wants to strengthen the Cabinet, which he attempted to do in 2006 when he was premier.
However, the system of political relations that exist today will certainly be altered. The preliminary decision of Yanukovych to hold local elections this autumn somehow enlivened the intellectual life in the Party of Regions, as it is preoccupied with creating a more comfortable environment in the upcoming local race. Accordingly, it was proposed to hold elections to local village, town and city councils based on a majoritarian-proportional system. This scheme will allow the PoR to make it to local legislatures in the regions where they have not had any local representation.
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