Translated by Eugene Ivantsov
The Verkhovna Rada has come very close to voting for Yulia Tymoshenko’s candidacy for the position of the PM.
On Friday, parliament was unable to elect the speaker’s deputies.
The newly elected speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk stated that “nothing will prevent parliament from voting for Yulia Tymoshenko on Tuesday.”
“I repeat that this is a very clear legislative norm,” said Mr. Yatsenyuk.
However, Ukrayinska Pravda managed to find out that it was planned not only to vote for the PM but also incite the Constitutional Court for an active work.
On Friday, the Verkhovna Rada session was a succession of mutual accusations from the new coalition and the opposition.
The BYuT leader is trying to find additional votes to ensure positive voting on Tuesday.
Logically, the newly-elected Vice Speaker would probably contribute several votes in support of Yulia Tymoshenko.
At the same time, the President’s Secretariat attempts to nominate a suitable candidacy for this position.
That is why Head of the President’s Secretariat Viktor Baloha has issued a statement saying that “Mr. Yushchenko recommends the Verkhovna Rada to elect the Party of Regions (PRU) member for this position.”
He mentioned no names but it is obvious it was a transparent hint on Rayisa Bohatyryova whose nomination has been discussed by the Party of Regions.
However, Mr. Yanukovych decided to stake on Adam Martynyuk who is not very sentimental with Viktor Yushchenko. At the same time, NU-NS has stated it will never vote for a communist candidate.
Besides, Mrs. Tymoshenko has found the way to decrease the PRU influence in the Verkhovna Rada.
She offered to let the two smallest factions, Lytvyn Bloc and the Communist Party, be the first in sharing parliamentary committees.
The BYuT leader understands that both Lytvyn and Symonenko will choose two most popular committees – either the budget, finance and banking committee or the committee for fuel and energy complex.
In such a way, Mrs. Tymoshenko would deprive the PRU of the most important committees and thus, influence in the Verkhovna Rada. It is easier for the government to deal with the committee run by a weak opposition MP, than by a strong leader with the support of 175 lawmakers.
The PRU attempted to oppose such a proposal. They offered to share the most important committees among the most numerous factions.
Yulia Tymoshenko is playing her own game. She is trying to enlist more votes in her support by undermining the opposition.
At the final session of the BYuT faction Mrs. Tymoshenko shared plans of the coalition.
The key goal of the coalition is implementation of the norm on the imperative mandate, which would secure stability of Mrs. Tymoshenko’s coalition even having only 227 MPs.
“I know that several NU-NS members do not want to vote for the imperative mandate. But I am convinced that I can persuade them and find 227 votes for this law,” promised Yulia Tymoshenko at the BYuT closed session.
According to information obtained by Ukrayinska Pravda, Viktor Topolov, Vladyslav Kaskiv, Volodymyr Stretovych and Mykola Katerynchuk are among those who do not support the Law on the Imperative Mandate.
Yulia Tymoshenko has an alternative variant in the event the Verkhovna Rada kills this bill.
“If everything goes ok, the Verkhovna Rada will swear in three judges of the Constitutional Court. The decision of the Constitutional Court has been already made and awaits approval,” she said.
Obviously, Mrs. Tymoshenko meant the Constitutional Court decision that confirmed legitimacy of the Law on the Imperative Mandate.
Thus, the Law on the Imperative Mandate will be adopted either way.
“That is why Ivan Plyushch has not been yet excluded from Our Ukraine parliamentary faction. He will be deprived of the MP mandate through the procedure of the imperative mandate,” Mrs. Tymoshenko revealed the secret.
Yulia Tymoshenko outlined plans for Tuesday, December 11.
“First of all the Verkhovna Rada will vote for the PM, and then for the entire government,” she said.
Then the BYuT leader shared her plans regarding formation of a government.
It turned out that all MPs in her faction have submitted their candidatures for ministerial positions. Mrs. Tymoshenko said that she had no time to consider all the nominations. According to the BYuT leader, it is a matter of time.
The next question raised by Mrs. Tymoshenko is positions in the parliamentary committees.
“If you have not made yourself familiar with job placements in the committees do it now! It is possible to change something now in order not to call me at night asking for another job in another committee,” said the BYuT leader.
In her next statement Yulia Tymoshenko revealed the secret of encouraging own MPs during the election campaign.
“You do remember that I used to say during the election campaign that those who contributed most to our victory in his native region would be granted the right to chair the parliamentary committee,” said Yulia Tymoshenko.
To calm down MPs the BYuT leader decided to set an example of honesty and devotion to the party. Thus, Oleksandr Turchynov placed himself for a job in the unpopular Committee for Culture and Spirituality.
This decision aroused laughter of the BYuT MPs. It is clear that he will never work there since he is going to become the First Vice PM in Yulia Tymoshenko’s government.
Being aware that offended MPs may kill the coalition Mrs. Tymoshenko tried to convince her brothers-in-arms once again.
“If we are arguing over positions in the authority now, let’s better stay in the opposition,” stated Mrs. Tymoshenko.
“You know, I have recently met with two PRU leaders. I warned them that our MPs will accept their bribes but this money will be donated to children's homes and our MPs will stay with the coalition!” she went on.
“If somebody is dissatisfied with such an approach, he may take it to the court,” Mr. Turchynov joked.