|
|
 |
Yulia Tymoshenko Gets Computer Failure
// Supreme Rada computer revolted against the candidate for Ukraine’s prime minister
Ukraine’s Supreme Rada failed on Tuesday to approve Yulia Tymoshenko for prime minister. According to her supporters, it is due to the conspiracy between the Party of Regions and the parliament’s staff. Viktor Yanukovych’s associates think that Tymoshenko’s failure was a “sign from God”. However, Rada deputies are likely to have another chance to vote for the BYuT leader on Wednesday. Certainly, if Viktor Yushchenko does not change his mind about nominating her once again.
Card Failure
By Tuesday morning, it seemed everything was ready for approving Yulia Tymoshenko for prime minister. President Viktor Yushchenko came to the Supreme Rada to admonish his associates for the last time before the upcoming voting. Last days showed the president’s lectures produce a beneficial effect on the members of his bloc, the Our Ukraine–People’s Self-Defense (OU-PSD) bloc. For instance, when seven OU-PSD deputies refused to sign the agreement on creating a governmental coalition a week ago, the president delivered such a speech that they immediately changed their minds and put their signatures where asked.
Yushchenko, Tymoshenko, the Supreme Rada’s new Speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk, and a few more prominent orange coalition leaders cloistered in the speaker’s office and lengthily discussed disputable candidates for minister positions in the future Cabinet. To persuade former Prime Minister Yuri Ekhanurov into voting for Tymoshenko, they agreed upon offering him the defense minister position. So far, Ekhanurov was regarded as a “strong economic executive” and never expressed any military ambitions.
Yushchenko, emblazing Tymoshenko’s new Cabinet in duet with her, also decided that Vladimir Ogryzko, a prominent pro-West politician and an ardent supporter of Ukraine’s accession to NATO as soon as possible, should become the new foreign affairs minister. By the way, that appointment was blocked by the Supreme Rada just six months ago, when the majority was with Viktor Yanukovych’s anti-crisis coalition.
After their session with the president, orange leaders proceeded to the parliamentary hall. Tymoshenko’s right-hand man Alexander Turchinov announced to journalists that the negotiations had ended successfully and that the Cabinet had been completely agreed upon.
Nothing foreshadowed trouble when the parliamentary session began. Not only BYuT and OU-PSD members, but also the Litvin Bloc deputies, -- 246 people in total – voted for including the issue of forming a new Cabinet and appointing the prime minister into the agenda. Yushchenko declared that he asks the deputies to vote for appointing Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko as the prime minister.
However, something unbelievable happened next. The voting began. By preconcert, members of the Communist and the Litvin Bloc factions pulled out their deputy cards from reading devices, so as to show they do not take part in the voting. The Party of Regions came to the Rada without cards at all: cards were prudently taken away from the deputies, so as to prevent them from accidentally voting for Tymoshenko. BYuT and OU-PSD deputies began voting for. However, the screen eventually displayed the 225 figure. That is precisely one half of the Supreme Rada (consisting of 450 deputies in total). Just one more vote was necessary for approving the prime minister (226 would make the simple majority).
Panic seized the orange coalition. The Regionals were puzzled at first, but then started applauding. Yushchenko sat with a set face. Later, it turned out that 2 cards failed to vote, those of OU-PSD member and former mayor of Kiev Oleksander Omelchenko, and BYuT member Ivan Denkovych. Without losing time on investigation, Speaker Yatsenyuk suggested voting for the second time. The Regionals jumped up in protest. During the voting, the Party of Regions’ deputy Vladislav Lukyanov ran up to the speaker’s box and pulled out Yatsenyuk’s card from the reading device. Later, he said he had done it in protest against violating the parliamentary voting procedure. The screen once again showed the 225 figure. It turned out afterwards that BYuT member Yaroslav Fedorchuk’s card did not work as well.
Chaos covered the Rada. Skirmish and abuse happen there quite frequently, but this time the emotional heat was so strong that it might have led to bloodshed. Dizzy with unexpected happiness, the Regionals behaved as if a miracle had happened. Orange coalition members sat with distorted faces. Yushchenko left the room. The presidential colors were carried away after him. The speaker announced break, while the Regionals immediately surrounded the tribune, broke off the microphone, and pulled out all wires, as one of OU-PSD leaders Yuri Lutsenko said.
“Don’t worry, Yatsenyuk will come out with a loud-hailer if necessary,” Lutsenko told them.
“Bad Guy’s” Scheming
Rada deputies broke up the session, so as to find out what had actually happened. Orange coalition members unanimously assured that it was a conspiracy. Their most wide-spread version is that certain engineers-saboteurs of the parliament’s staff had intentionally programmed the Rada’s computer so that it always displays no more than 225 votes. Officers of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Security Service of Ukraine were summoned to deal with the saboteurs, to uncover the plot and find out whose ill will made the parliamentary computer revolt against Tymoshenko’s premiership.
“The Supreme Rada’s staff, which has not changed as of today, works for the Party of Regions. There is evidence they are intentionally blocking the cards, to prevent Tymoshenko from being approved,” assured BYuT member Bogdan Gubsky.
Deputy Lukyanov admitted that he had pulled out Yatsenyuk’s card, and said he is ready to answer for his action in court. Meanwhile, his fellow members of the Party of Regions triumphed.
“We will not allow one more voting with Yulia Tymoshenko as candidate for premiership,” said Inna Bogoslovskaya, number four in the Party of Regions list and Tymoshenko’s perennial rival. Moreover, Bogoslovskaya demanded the president should acknowledge the orange coalition’s failure and immediately begin talks with the Party of Regions on forming the new Cabinet on its basis.
According to the Regionals, there was no conspiracy, but orange deputies simply failed to implement the difficult task of pressing the buttons. The Party of Regions had also spread an official statement reading: “BYuT and OU-PSD are incapable to secure the government formation, and are once again trying to shift the responsibility for their disability onto a ‘bad guy’.” Moreover, Yanukovych’s party promises to sue the orange coalition for slander: “The insinuations and accusations thrown at the Party of Regions are not child’s play, for they undermine the party’s reputation with Ukraine’s citizens.”
“Sign from God”
In the evening, President Yushchenko came to the Rada once again, to hold talks with the parliamentary faction leaders, concerning the issue of “how to return to voting on Tymoshenko’s candidacy for the prime minister position”. Tymoshenko herself said in the evening that Yushchenko would again offer on Wednesday to approve her as PM, and this time deputies would vote without using the electronic system, to avoid disorders. She said there are two variants: either ballots or simple hand-raising.
However, if the voting is by secret ballot, it will be even harder to achieve Tymoshenko’s appointment. For instance, during electing Yatsenyuk as Rada speaker last week, Tymoshenko and Turchinov had to personally stand by the voting box and check the ballots of all their fellow party members, to make sure they had ticked the right box. Back then, the voting ended successfully, even despite the fact that Regions deputy Vasily Kiselev grabbed the ballot from BYuT member Oleg Terekhin and tore it to pieces. It will be much harder to approve Tymoshenko this way: the OU-PSD faction is far from being as iron-disciplined as BYuT. To make sure that all deputies made the right choice, President Yushchenko himself would have to stand by the ballot box and check ballots. Besides, now the Regionals know for sure they can frustrate Tymoshenko’s appointment by destroying just two ballots, which is far easier than pulling a card out of a reading device. Also, there is no certainty that hand-raising would pass smoothly: there might begin a fistfight.
Yanukovych promised on Tuesday night that his associates will not hamper a new voting on Tymoshenko if it goes along the procedure rules. Another leader of the Regionals, Boris Kolesnikov, suggested the president should choose a different candidate for prime minister. In the Party of Regions’ official statement, the failure of the Tymoshenko voting was also termed as a “sign from God”.
If Tuesday’s oddities go on during the Supreme Rada session on Wednesday, it will mean they might have been not accidental at all. Especially if a sequence of “signs from God” makes Yushchenko listen to them after all.
Mikhail Zygar
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 12, 2007
|
|
|
