“Yushchenko- niet !” Two years hardly following Yushchenko’s triumph and now he is not as popular in Independence Square as he was before. In this centre of the Orange Revolution, thousands of demonstrators are shouting out their anger...
“Yushchenko- niet !” Two years hardly following Yushchenko’s triumph and now he is not as popular in Independence Square as he was before. In this centre of the Orange Revolution, thousands of demonstrators are shouting out their anger at the Ukrainian president this time, while the country is getting stuck in the most serious crisis since his election.
On the 23d of last March seven “orange” deputies joined the ranks of the pro-Russian coalition headed by Prime Minister V. Yanukovych. V. Yushchenko has accused his opponent of infringing the Constitution by recruiting Mps from his camp in order to reach the Constitutional majority of 300 votes. This struggle for influence led the Head of the Ukrainian State to dissolve Parliament on the 2nd of April and to announce early parliamentary elections.
The trial of strength between the two men dates back to 2004, when thousands of Yushchenko’s supporters demonstrated day and night against the fraudulous election of Yanukovych for Presidency. Beaten, the head of the Party of the Regions and his people came back to power after the victory at the last legislative elections in March 2006.
But, the unstable cohabitation established in last August between a pro-Western President and a pro-Russian Prime Minister turned sour very soon. In the absence of the absolute majority in Parliament, political hindrances increased and the long promised political reforms got stuck.
The dissolution of Parliament brought out the tension between the two rivals. With the escalating confrontation, streets were brought in the conflict.
While waiting for the verdict of the Supreme Court on the legality of Yushchenko’s decree, the announcement of the Ukrainian President led to gatherings of people in the central square of Kyiv. The demonstrators who came mostly from the East and the South of Ukraine, support Prime Minister Yanukovych and the pro-Russian coalition staging a supposedly “counter-revolution”.
This time the flags are blue, rose and red, they are those of the Party of the Regions, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party. The camping of demonstrators near the Parliament could have resembled the Orange Revolution, but the protestation lacks in fervor.
Back in 2004 the struggle for democracy motivated the “orange” troupes despite glacial temperatures. This time, however, demonstrators, in much lesser numbers, seem to be uncertain and confused by an obscure political and judicial struggle. Some are demonstrating from conviction, others are paid daily by the party of the Regions, according to a great number of Ukrainian reference newspapers.
The pressure from streets weighs in the power struggle largely guided by economic interests. Business circles continue to exert a direct and immediate influence on politics in Ukraine. Neither of the two opposition blocs is interested in pushing the country into a civil war, however, this situation of double authority further divides Ukrainians between the “orange” and the “blue”.
A portrait of the “red and blue" protests…
© Cyril Horiszny
