Once controlled and manipulated under the authoritarian government of former President Leonid Kuchma, elections are now an annual Ukrainian tradition.

n government of former President Leonid Kuchma, elections are now an annual Ukrainian tradition. Since the Orange Revolution, the country will hold its second unexpected pre-term elections in June after the parliament voted March 18 to hold them for the Kyiv mayoral post and city council.

A disturbing tendency is taking hold. Reminiscent of Thomas Jefferson's comparison of democracy to mob rule, it seems that if a group of powerful politicians don’t like the way a rival is behaving in post-Orange Ukraine, they dismiss him through an election.

While elections are a better alternative than Communist show trials, and while Ukrainians ought to be lauded for their enthusiasm for the democratic process, there’s a limit to all this, as US Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor Jr. has repeatedly warned.

Whereas President Viktor Yushchenko called a pre-term election using a violation of the Constitution as justification, now it appears that Ukraine’s politicians, led by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, are simply fed up with Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetskiy.

So are most of us. He promised to improve transportation and the opposite occurred. Rather than develop affordable housing, he distributed hundreds of choice Kyiv properties as political tribute. Chernovetskiy has allowed land developers to run roughshod over historical landmarks and public parks. In just two years. his leadership has been disastrous in the full sense of the word.

In spite of all this, an election is not the way to cope. A good solution solves problems so they don’t recur.

Last year’s September pre-term parliamentary election didn’t solve any long-term problem. Parliament is just as dysfunctional as ever.

These elections could bring a corrupt politician to power, or as observers are already pointing out, Chernovetskiy could be re-elected, which would only serve to legitimize his alleged corruption.

If Chernovetskiy deserves to be ousted for corruption, as many acknowledge, then he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Such an effort would finally set the necessary precedent in Ukraine to hold politicians accountable.

Constitutional provisions must justify a pre-term vote. But being unpopular, incompetent or suspected of crime is no reason for snap elections.