Posted on 12/01/2004 2:00:54 PM PST by Mike Fieschko
From the press conference at Marinskiy Palace. From what I'm hearing, President Kuchma announced:
1. All parties have signed an agreement. It was a "genuine compromise." There is going to be a revote, though I don't think the type has been decided yet.
2. There is going to be an expert working group to look at the legal issues of the election. They will follow the recommendations of the Supreme Court.
3. All sides are renouncing violence.
4. The protesters are going to stop blocking government buildings.
5. There will be constitutional reform during the upcoming period.
From the quick bit I saw on the TV here, everyone was smiling, including the "sick" Yanukovych. With only the above info, it's hard to say what the significance of this is. I need to know what kind of constitional reform. To date, that phrase means a weakening of the president in favor of the PM. We'll have to see what it means here.
A lot of the activists here at this spot aren't happy about the agreement. There's always an undercurrent of mistrust that he's too timid, so I'm taking this with a grain of salt. But it does seem like an ambiguous step at best.
Unrelated note: Channel 5 is announcing a massive removal of official documents from the Ministry of Internal Affairs office. They had footage of voting slips in the back of dumptrucks.
Thank you so much for posting, Mike. I am extremely interested in all updates out of Ukraine.
Awesome! Thank you!
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