Ukrainian Supreme Court Takes Yushchenko’s Side

It’s never a good thing when the courts get involved in electoral activities. Yet, in the case of the recent Ukrainian fraud that posed as an election, an appeal to the nation’s Supreme Court was the best possible chance for a resolution. After several days of deliberating, while the country stood on the edge of chaos, the judges decided that opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko’s position, that the second round only needed to be re-run, was correct. And they set a December 26 deadline. But what makes anyone think a second ballot will be any better than the first?

Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, a gangster of the Chekist variety, has tried everything to depart office while retaining power. The latest effort, after the court’s ruling, was vote to move some powers from the presidency to the parliament. That failed over the week-end. But, the same people wield real power over the electoral process still. And having stolen at least one round of voting (some believe that Mr. Yushchenko won the first round with more than the 50% needed to avoid a run-off), there is no reason to believe that they won’t try again.

In addition, the blue provinces (in the Russian speaking south and east, as opposed to the orange of Mr. Yushchenko that swept the west) aren’t happy about the re-run. They backed Viktor Yanukovich, who is Mr. Kuchma’s choice for marionette leader. These places had voter turn out in excess of 100%, the coal miners of the region love the preferential treatment they have received since independence, and the Russian rather than the Ukrainian culture dominates. They had threatened a referendum on autonomy (read independence). And another article for another time would ask why not partition the country into its two distinctive halves based on ethnicity?

There are two groups in the country who have proved themselves to be patriots of the first order. Those in the streets of the cities, people who have spend two weeks in the wintry weather to demand their country follow the rules of the game. Valley Forge was no colder, but the food seems to be more plentiful. Thirty years ago, they would have been rounded up and deported to Siberian. Seventy years ago, they would have been shot where they stand.

Which brings up the real heroes of the hour, the security services. Two weeks ago, one might rightly have expected violence, tanks in the street and even civil war. While the country isn’t out of the woods yet, the police have managed to keep order without using force (thanks to the help of volunteer security people from the protesters), and the military has kept to its barracks. That more than anything is grounds for optimism, the fact that the soldiers view their job as defending the country rather than defending the government. It will irritate Mr. Putin in Moscow no end, but if the inaction of the security forces doesn’t prove Ukraine is ready to be a member of the EU and NATO, nothing can.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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