This
particular district is the home base of Lytvyn, who resigned on July 4 with
seeming indignation. Pro-presidential lawmakers on July 6 declined to accept
his resignation, allowing for the Lytvyn show to carry on.

He will be
running for parliament in the majority constituency there in the October parliamentary
election.

It is these
residents whom he blessed with shipments of free tonometers and bicycles for
medical workers. It is this region he lobbied for to get unprecedented
subsidies, a record-breaking Hr 95 million this year.

He has been
using budget money to fly charter planes at our cost to see the local residents
and do noble deeds like giving medals to “Heroine Mothers,” a soviet honor for
mothers of many children, left over from the USSR.

His
constituency is Ukrainian speaking.

This means
that no matter how close his cooperation is with his allies from the pro-presidential
Party of the Regions, he could not afford to look like he was supporting their law
on languages approved on July 3, because it clearly aggravates Ukrainian
speakers by giving a boost to Russian language usage.

Lytvyn does
not have the option of running for parliament in a majority constituency. Polls
show that his People’s Party’s would not cross the 5 percent threshold.

Just days
before the July 3 approval of the controversial language law, Lytvyn met up
with diplomats and other interested parties. He told them that he is against
the law. Nevertheless, he left the impression of someone who is going to let it
slip past his fingers, despite his very public declarations that he would
prevent the law from coming to a vote.

As a
result, at the crucial moment Lytvyn just happened to leave the session hall,
while his political faction conveniently failed to notice which law is being
voted and pressed the “Yes” button. Lytvyn himself resigned on July 4 with much
theatrics.

Some
ill-wishers, like the communist Serhiy Gordiyenko, were quick to point out
after the vote that Lytvyn has a history of being absent for politically
divisive votes, allowing others to do the dirty work and take the blame.

Lytvyn’s
resignation is a cynical political move. I hope voters recognize he is a
spineless political chameleon, not a hero.

Let’s not
forget that Lytvyn has been involved in the most devious of affairs. You only
need to listen to the Melnychenko tapes to find the evidence.

Kyiv Post
deputy editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at [email protected].