#31 - JRL 2007-87 - JRL Home
Ukraine Cabinet to defy president's order to fund early
polls
KIEV, April 13 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's Cabinet will refuse to obey a
presidential decree overturning its earlier decision not to finance a snap
general election, a member of the parliamentary majority faction said Friday.
President Viktor Yushchenko banned Thursday the Cabinet's decision to deny
funds for new parliamentary elections that Yushchenko said would prevent Premier
Viktor Yanukovych, whose allies dominate the legislature, from "usurping power."
"This is a violation of the Budgetary Code, the law on the 2007 budget, and
the Cabinet of Ministers will reject this decree as illegitimate," said Vasiliy
Volga of the Socialist Party, which is part of the ruling coalition also
comprising the Communists and is led by the premier's Party of Regions.
Yushchenko also insisted the Cabinet decision was unconstitutional.
The ex-Soviet state has been locked in a standoff between the long-time
rivals, with the Supreme Rada defying the order to dissolve pending a
Constitutional Court ruling on its legitimacy.
At his first news conference in two weeks Thursday, Yushchenko said he would
obey any court decision, but said he would not resign or call for an early
presidential poll, as there were no legal grounds for the moves.
In a Financial Times interview Friday, Yanukovych said: "The coalition has
taken a responsible decision to abide by any ruling of the constitutional court
over whether to dissolve parliament. This represents a truly democratic and
civilized way out of the current political impasse."
The government earlier Friday renewed appeals for Yushchenko to cancel or
suspend his order disbanding parliament to try and end the political deadlock
gripping the nation since April 2. The Party of Regions said the impasse could
end up as a national vote of confidence in the president and parliament.
On Thursday, Yushchenko refused to backtrack on his order, also saying there
were no legal grounds to call an early presidential poll simultaneously with
parliamentary elections. But he said elections originally slated for May 27,
could be postponed until a later date, while also adding mediators could be
invited to tackle the crisis.
Thousands of coalition supporters and several hundred pro-presidential
backers have been meanwhile facing off on the central squares of the capital,
Kiev, bringing back memories of the "orange revolution" in 2004, when Yushchenko
defeated Yanukovych in a rerun after an allegedly rigged presidential race.
About 300 Yanukovych supporters in white-and-blue and 100 Yushchenko backers
clad in his party's orange color filled the street in front of the presidential
secretariat building Thursday. A police cordon is dividing them. No clashes have
been reported.
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