UKRAINE: Yanukovich warns of deepening political crisis in Ukraine as rival camps protest in Kiev

Record ID: 785246

  • Title: UKRAINE: Yanukovich warns of deepening political crisis in Ukraine as rival camps protest in Kiev
  • Date: 11th April 2007
  • Summary: SUPPORTERS OF PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO GATHERING FOR RALLY VARIOUS RALLY MEN WEARING ORANGE VESTS (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) SERGEI SHELGUNOV, A SUPPORTER OF PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO SAYING: "We are here to support our president with his decree to dissolve parliament and to call an early election. We demand the new elections to be fair, so the forces which will come into parliament will form a majority according to the constitution." PEOPLE WAVING ORANGE FLAGS CARS DRIVING BESIDE RALLY ORANGE RIBBONS HANGING ALONG STREET
  • Embargoed: 26th April 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA200XB1A865I819HH67MPQUIX5
  • Story Text: Ukrainian prime minister says political deadlock is hurting the country, as thousands of his supporters protest in central Kiev, demanding cancellation of a presidential decree dissolving parliament and ordering new elections.

    Ukraine Prime Minister Vitkor Yanukovich, locked in a power struggle with President Vitkor Yushchenko, warned on Wednesday (April 11) the stand-off was hurting the country of 47 million people.
    "Unfortunately, the situation in the country is not improving - on the contrary it's getting worse. This influences both the political and economic aspects of the country," said Yanukovich as he chaired a cabinet meeting in Kiev on Wednesday.
    Ukraine's political deadlock was sparked earlier this month when Yushchenko, at odds for months with parliament and his prime minister, signed a decree dissolving parliament and calling snap elections.
    Yanukovich and his allies in parliament have defied the decree, and have asked Ukraine's Constitutional Court to make a ruling on the legality of the presidential decree.
    Yanukovich, defeated by the president in a 2004 poll after mass "Orange Revolution" rallies, says he will take no part in a poll pending the court's ruling.
    The court announced on Tuesday (April 10) it had put off its first sitting on the decree, scheduled for Wednesday, until April 17.
    Since the president issued his decree on April 2, parliament has continued to pass acts in defiance of the dissolution order.
    Yushchenko said he dissolved parliament because the majority was illegally poaching his supporters. He dismisses as meaningless any measures adopted by parliament since the decree. The prime minister's backers have held rallies to recreate the atmosphere of the "orange" protests. But numbers have been small and the resolve of demonstrators unconvincing.
    A few thousand Yanukovich supporters gathered in central Kiev on Wednesday. Supporters of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, an ex-prime minister, are also in central Kiev, and plan their own rally later on Wednesday.
    A supporter of European Union and NATO membership, Yushchenko has seen his powers cut by constitutional change. His popularity has sunk as supporters accused him of indecisiveness.
    Yanukovich, friendlier to Moscow, staged a remarkable comeback in Ukraine's last parliamentary election -- barely a year ago -- when his party took first place.
    Appointed prime minister after "orange" parties could not form a government, he initially agreed to uphold Yushchenko's pro-Western policies, but has chipped away at his authority.

    ENDS
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