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| Europe |
| Ukraine MPs sack presidential associate as speaker |
| 2008-11-13 |
| Ukraine's parliament voted Wednesday to dismiss a close associate of President Viktor Yushchenko as its speaker -- raising speculation that Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko might fall next. In the latest twist in an ongoing power struggle in the eastern European nation hard-hit by the global financial crisis, 233 members of parliament voted for the sacking of Arseny Yatseniuk -- seven more than the minimum required. They included not only members of the pro-Russian Party of Regions and the Communist party, but also 10 members of Yuschenko's own party who reportedly suspected that Yatseniuk did not support the idea of early elections. Yushchenko, who favours early elections, suggested Tuesday that the vote -- already re-scheduled for December 14 -- might now take place in the New Year, or three years earlier than required. He had dissolved parliament on October 8 in a bitter power struggle with Tymoshenko, who along with her supporters in parliament had long refused to prepare for the early elections. Delaying elections until next year could help Yushchenko chip away at Tymoshenko's popularity by pinning the impact of the global economic crisis in Ukraine on her, political analysts say. Tymoshenko's faction in parliament sought to block Yatseniuk's ouster. Some of its deputies went so far as to try to foil the chamber's electronic voting system and to brawl with members of the Party of the Regions. Supporters of the prime minister fear that the speaker's downfall could be followed by that of Tymoshenko and her government. "The prime minister's team suspects that the removal of the president of parliament is but a first stem," the influentual online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda wrote Wednesday. "The next would be a motion of censure against the government." "If the president of parliament can be sacked, then early elections and the removal of Tymoshenko will follow," added the Segodnya newspaper, which is close to the Party of Regions. Elections were last held on September 30 last year, five months after Yushchenko dissolved the parliament, giving a narrow majority to the pro-Western coalition grouping supporters of the president and the prime minister. That alliance, however, broke up in September this year after Tymoshenko's faction voted with the Party of Regions to curb the powers of the president. Ukraine has been among the nations hardest hit by global financial turmoil as a plunge in the price of steel, its main export, exacerbates a credit crunch and a sharp fall in stock prices. The hryvnia currency has lost 20 percent of its value in recent weeks, sparking panic in a population already suffering from massive layoffs. The economic downturn has become increasingly politicised, with the president blaming the government for the problems of Ukraine, an erstwhile Soviet republic of 46 million. Needing urgent help, parliament on October 31 approved legislation clearing the way for a 16.5 billion dollar (12.8 billion euro) International Monetary Fund crisis loan after long political wrangling. |
| Posted by:Fred |