President Viktor Yanukovych took more steps this week to consolidate political control, proposing to boost presidential powers in the Constitution and passing a local election law that opponents say will give his already-dominant Party of Regions advantages in October polls.
With all government branches already under the control of Yanukovych and his allies, the latest moves look more to critics like an attempt to set up an authoritarian regime, much like Vladimir Putin did in Russia a decade ago.
Opponents and civic activists say Yanukovych has already transformed parliament into a rubber-stamp legislature, has solidified his grip over the executive by installing loyal allies in government and has reined in the judiciary. He has also been accused of following Putin’s strategy of muzzling media and limiting the rights of opposition groups to protest.
Absolute power
“Yanukovych absolutely is consolidating power.”
– Serhiy Taran, director of the International Democracy Institute.
On July 13, 252 members of the 450-seat parliament appealed to the Constitutional Court to annul changes to the Constitution rushed through as a compromise during the 2004 Orange Revolution. Such a decision would switch Ukraine back to a presidential-parliamentary system of government, from the current parliamentary-presidential one in which executive authority is further muddled between president and prime minister.
Yanukovych’s allies say boosting his powers will help him govern more forcefully, allowing him to deliver crucial reforms. The 2004 changes contributed to major political deadlocks during the five-year presidency of Viktor Yushchenko, which ended on Feb. 25.
But critics say Yanukovych will concentrate too much power in his hands, with insufficient checks and balances, throwing Ukraine back to the authoritarian style of rule under former President Leonid Kuchma.
“Yanukovych absolutely is consolidating power,” said Serhiy Taran, director of the International Democracy Institute. “One must remember that the old Constitution never had a clear mechanism for impeachment. Kuchma ruled like a king, and that’s not good for a healthy democracy.”
A first attempt at regaining presidential rule failed. Before adjourning for their two-month summer break, the ruling coalition attempted to fast-track a referendum law that would have bypassed the legislature and instead initiated a nationwide referendum on the issue to be held on Oct. 31, simultaneously with elections to provincial and municipal legislatures.
However, the ruling coalition faltered as parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn’s bloc and the Communist Party blocked the attempt. Some experts said they fear being politically sidelined under a presidential system.
The ruling coalition, however, is pushing ahead with its attempt to increase Yanukovych’s authority.
Oleksandr Yefremov, head of Yanukovych’s party in parliament, was blunt on July 13, saying: “Our view lies in returning to the 1996 constitution,” which made Ukraine a presidential republic.
“It’s clear the president is exploring all the options of returning to the 1996 constitution,” Ihor Kohut said, chairman of the Laboratory of Legislative Initiatives, a non-profit organization that monitors parliament and advises on drafting legislation.
The Constitutional Court’s secretariat has 10 days to review the request after which it will go to the court’s collegium, a body that will decide whether to review the case.
Keeping opponents out
Sidelining opponents, critics say, is another way that Yanukovych and allies are consolidating monopolistic powers.
They say the local election law passed on July 10 creates advantages for the pro-presidential Party of Regions to increase their presence in local legislatures and in the mayoral offices of municipalities in the Oct. 31 elections, restricting voter freedom to elect newer, opposition parties and candidates.
“There will be a complete absence of political competition,” said Horshenin Institute expert Volodymyr Zastava.
The law was adopted in two readings with hardly any deliberation, public discussions and debate. It’s still not available on parliament’s website.
According to the measure, elections to the councils of oblast and district capitals, cities and towns will take place in an evenly mixed majoritarian-proportional voting system in which 50 percent of council members get elected based on a first-past-the-post single mandates. The remaining 50 percent get elected based on closed party lists.
Village councils and the mayors of cities and towns will be elected in first-past-the-post single mandates.
The main problem is that only political parties can nominate mayoral candidates, which experts said was in clear violation of the Constitution. Experts cited an article in the Constitution states that “every citizen has the right to elect and be elected.”
The new law also prohibits parties that have not been registered for more than 365 days prior to election day on the local level from running. It also forbids independent candidates from running.
In addition, it doesn’t allow blocs of parties like the Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko named after the former prime minister to run for local office.
“This means that parties led by Arseniy Yatseniuk, Anatoliy Hrytsenko and others for whom millions of people voted in the recent presidential elections won’t be able to get on the ballot,” said Popov.
“The main idea is to destroy the chances of new and independent parties and candidates to get elected.”
– Ihor Popov, director of the Penta Center for Policy Studies.
Yatseniuk’s Front of Changes party has 689 local branches, only 19 of which qualify to participate in the local elections.
This leaves only well established parties like the pro-presidential Party of Regions to either swallow up or co-opt independent candidates or those who are members of parties who didn’t qualify for the elections.
Experts said parties who don’t qualify but who still want to take part in the elections will have to scramble and go through the costly process of joining or even “purchasing” existing parties, re-branding or legally changing a particular party’s name to avoid voter confusion.
Tymoshenko said her grouping will run not as the Tymoshenko Bloc, but under her less recognized Batkivshchyna Party name.
Already, world champion boxer and Kyiv city councilman Vitaliy Klitchko, whose eponymous bloc didn’t qualify for the election, was elected head of the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) party, formerly registered as Nova Ukrayina, Unian news agency reported on July 13.
“The main idea is to destroy the chances of new and independent parties and candidates to get elected,” said Ihor Popov, director of the Penta Center for Policy Studies. “It limits and distorts the choice voters will have.”
And for any independent-minded politicians still willing to run for office, they’ll only have 30 days to campaign, according to legislation.
According to Popov, this gives pro-presidential parties the advantage of using state and administrative resources to campaign well before Oct. 1.
“They’ll start mobilizing local state employees like doctors and teachers, they’ll start building roads and remodeling schools for instance using state funds, but attribute any public works projects to a pro-government candidate,” Popov said.
The use of state resources in favor of certain candidates will especially be effective in the single mandate races, experts predict. Other tactics in the past have included pressure from government bodies like the tax administration on opposition candidates if they own businesses or from the judiciary if they have any pending cases that require a favorable ruling.
And should a candidate make it through all the election hurdles and withstand any administrative pressure, there’s one last clause in the legislation to stop any mavericks, according to experts. Territorial election commissions, which are made up of members of the ruling coalition – Lytvyn Bloc, Communist Party and Party of Regions – are given huge leeway in cancelling the registration of candidates.Statements made by Front of Change leader Arseniy Yatseniuk and Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko said that they will challenge the legality of the local election law in the constitutional court.
But they could be out of luck there, too: Anatoly Golovin, a Yanukovych ally, was this week appointed head of the Constitutional Court.
Kyiv Post staff writer Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].
