Posted on 07/07/2006 12:56:19 PM PDT by lizol
Pro-Russian parties form new governing coalition in Ukraine
by Yana Dlugy
KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine's pro-Russian parties formed a new governing coalition in a stunning move that promises to slow the pro-Western course taken by the ex-Soviet nation after the "orange revolution."
In front of reporters in parliament, the Regions Party and the Communists signed a coalition agreement with the Socialists, who in a surprise move had defected from the pro-Western "orange" camp the previous day.
The coalition said it was open to other parties.
"We're not closing the doors," said Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of Regions. "They are open for other parties or groups of deputies."
The trio, which controls 240 seats in the 450-member Upper Rada legislature, said it would nominate as its prime minister Yanukovych, who lost the bitterly-contested "orange revolution" election contest to President Viktor Yushchenko in late 2004.
The coalition said it would forward Yanukovych's nomination to the president later on Friday, after which Yushchenko will have 15 days to submit it to parliament for confirmation, and would move quickly to form a new cabinet.
It was not clear whether Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party would join the new union to form a so-called "wide coalition" that would unite both pro-Western and pro-Russian forces.
Analysts say a wide coalition would slow Kiev's aim to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO), but would not affect the drive toward membership of the European Union (EU) and would provide stability to push through economic reforms.
In a televised interview, Yushchenko said that he did not see Our Ukraine in the role of the opposition, saying its absence from power would "lead to a serious revision of policies."
In earlier remarks to reporters, Yushchenko said a wide coalition would be the best option, but admitted that a new majority could exclude his party.
"It's not out of the question that we could have a situation where the courses of the president and the parliamentary majority differ," a gloomy Yushchenko told reporters.
"I would really like to avoid such a scenario," he said.
The third member of the "orange" coalition, Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc, has ruled out joining a coalition that includes Regions, warning that it would lead to a return of the widespread corruption that marked the regime swept aside by the "orange revolution."
"A wide coalition is a wide grave for democracy and Ukraine's sovereignty," she said in a late-night political talk show.
"We will either be in opposition or, if the constitution allows... we'll support the holding of new elections," she said.
Yushchenko warned that if a new government is not formed by the end of July he could dissolve government and call new elections.
The "orange" coalition was sent into a tailspin late Thursday ballot that in a surprise move saw its smallest faction, the Socialists, join with pro-Russian parties to elect its leader Olexander Moroz as speaker.
Moroz said he decided to switch sides because the "orange" team's choices for top government posts were political rivals and that the union was bound to be short-lived.
Critics said Moroz made the move in order to grab the speakership.
The March 26 parliamentary election did not hand any one party enough seats in the legislature to form a government alone.
At present, Regions has 186 seats, Tymoshenko's bloc 129 seats, Our Ukraine 81 seats, the Socialists 33 seats and the Communists 21 seats.
Ping
Communists are just Socialists in a hurry.
Ukraine will not join NATO anytime soon. The Socialists were always against it even before the Orange coalition began to unravel and it reflects overall public opinion.
Most interesting.
Why? Because SHE is not going to be in power?
Wide coalition and wide corruption. Yanukovich want to finally destroy their image of revolutionist. He knows that their voters wont understand why they want to agree with people that wanted to stole elections two years ago. We could expect only divisions among orange parties, Yanuk would love it.
It shows how strong support they have.
Now that they wrecked the economy they are in big doodoo.
Mass deportations are the answer.
Russia ping
"In front of reporters in parliament, the Regions Party and the Communists signed a coalition agreement with the Socialists, who in a surprise move had defected from the pro-Western "orange" camp the previous day."
Big surprise.
Mass deportations of whom? Eastern half by the west or western half by the east?
Maybe velvet divorce Czechoslovak style is a better solution?
Socialists and communists unite together to draw Ukraine away from the pro-American camp! Hooray for America's enemies! Hooray for Russia and Holy Crusader Putin!
But when the Socialists were part of the Orange coalition it did not bother you, did it?
BTW, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians do not want to join NATO. Should they be forced or tricked into joining?
To me it's easy to side with the supporters of my own country because I have no loyalties to a pro-Russian foreign agenda.
Since Yanukovych's main financier is the muslim oligarch Renat Akhmetov, will his government be adopting pro-Ayatollah, pro-HAMAS policies like Russia's? Will he sell missiles to Iran and Red China like he did when he was Kuchma's PM before?
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