Ukraine’s Slow Political Process

One month after Ukraine’s 2007 Parliamentary Election, the only progress toward the formation of a new government is the official publication of election results.

The political process in Ukraine continues to move at a snail's pace. Almost one full month after the September 30 Parliamentary election, Ukraine's Supreme Administrative Court threw out a lawsuit filed by five political parties claiming voting fraud. Following this ruling, the Central Election Committee quickly published the official election results on October 27, 2007.

The Ukrainian Constitution requires the new parliament to convene within 30 days of the official publication of the results. So far, only 94 parliament members (MPs), all from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, have been registered. To hold a seat in the Verkhovna Rada, members must submit required documentation to the Central Election Commission. After verification, the the registered members are issued interim certificates. Final certificates will be issued after the new parliament begins work.

Concerns about the viability of a new “Orange” democratic coalition continue to flow out of Ukraine. Even though President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine People’s Self Defense Bloc has agreed to a coalition with the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, Yushchenko still wishes to include the Party of Regions (PoR). Tymoshenko has stated many times that she will not support a coalition with PoR.

Yushchenko seems to be positioning himself for re-election in 2009, which explains his desire to create a grand coalition amongst all parties. Meanwhile Tymoshenko distrusts PoR and wants power now. The new parliament has yet to meet, and it already seems like Ukraine’s political process will be a continuation of the deadlock that has plagued the country since Yushchenko won the 2004 Presidential election. I hope I’m wrong, because more of the same is not a legitimate option for Ukraine.