Defeat Leaves Yushchenko Powerless

KIEV, Ukraine -- The man who led Ukraine's orange revolution two years ago has been transformed into a lame-duck president following a humiliating parliamentary vote that in effect strips him of all powers.


The President, Viktor Yushchenko, no longer has the power to veto the choice of prime minister or foreign minister. Officials from Mr Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party described the vote as unconstitutional. They were preparing a challenge before the constitutional court, they said.

Mr Yushchenko seems to be the big loser in Ukraine's latest constitutional battle, which has paralysed the country over the past year because of internal power struggles.

Mr Yushchenko lost his responsibilities after his ally-turned-rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, decided to vote with the party of Ukraine's pro-Russian Prime Minister, Viktor Yanukovich.

In late 2004 Mr Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko led the orange uprising against a rigged presidential election. Mr Yushchenko duly beat Mr Yanukovich to become president.

But following elections last March the President was forced to appoint Mr Yanukovich as prime minister in August after his own allies, including Ms Tymoshenko, failed to form a government.

Mr Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko had fallen out a few months earlier, each accusing the other of corruption.

This week one of Ms Tymoshenko's closest advisers shrugged off the suggestion that she had betrayed the orange revolution by siding with Mr Yanukovich, her former enemy.

"This is an absurd argument," Hryhoriy Nemyria said. "We have never signed any kind of pact with Yanukovich. Ukraine's constitution doesn't function properly … Voting with Yanukovich was the lesser of two evils. We now want early elections." #

Last Friday, 366 MPs voted to override Mr Yushchenko's veto of a bill outlining the powers of the cabinet, well above the 300 votes needed. They also shot down 42 other proposals by the President to amend the bill.

Analysts said Mr Yushchenko - who is due to keep his presidential job until 2009 - had seen his powers steadily whittled away.

"He's been a potential lame duck since last year," said Andrew Wilson, a Ukraine specialist at University College London. "This is his last throw of the dice."

Although Mr Yushchenko appeared to be nearing the end of his political career, it did not mean Ukraine's orange revolution was finished, Mr Wilson said.

"The rules in Ukraine are different from the rules before the revolution," he said.

"The media is freer. And this is very much the cut and thrust of normal politics."

Source: The Sidney Morning Herald