Ukraine was mired in political crisis Monday ahead of a meeting
of the constitutional court this week to rule on President Viktor
Yushchenko's bid to force early parliamentary elections.
Around 1,000 protesters remained camped out around parliament
building in central Kiev, determined to stop the Western-leaning
president's dissolution of the legislature, which is dominated by a
pro-Russian coalition.
The situation was calmer on the streets compared to last week's
mass demonstrations as Monday was a holiday following the Easter
weekend in this Orthodox Christian country.
However, with the constitutional court planning to convene this
week for what could be lengthy deliberations on Yushchenko's
election plan, tensions were high.
"It is my duty to be here," said Andrei Dyadyuk, a member of the
Regions Party of Yushchenko's arch-rival, Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovych. "But today there are no demonstrations. We are Orthodox
people, and we don't organize public meetings during holidays."
In a combative Easter speech televised late Saturday, Yushchenko
accused his opponents of trying to impose "tyranny" and "managed
democracy" in Ukraine.
"My decision is legitimate and constitutional and there will be
no going back," Yushchenko said in his speech, delivered from
outside the Saint Sophia church in central Kiev.
His rival Yanukovych also issued an Easter message posted on the
government website on Sunday in which he expressed confidence that
the crisis "will be successfully resolved through democracy and
supremacy of the law".
The crisis began on April 2 when the president ordered the
dissolution of parliament and elections on May 27. This triggered a
defiant response from the prime minister.
Tens of thousands of Yanukovych supporters have protested in the
capital of this former Soviet republic over the past week and
hundreds have kept up a round-the-clock vigil in a tent camp
outside the parliament.
"It's cold on the street but God will keep us warm," pensioner
Nina Pustavoytova from Eastern Ukraine said outside the parliament
early Monday. "People who believe in God are here to defend their
rights."
Critics have accused the president of mounting a coup by
illegally cancelling the results of last year's parliamentary
elections deemed fair by international observers.
Yushchenko in turn accuses pro-Moscow forces in parliament, led
by Yanukovych's Regions party, of acting against the constitution
by paying huge bribes to lure pro-Western deputies to their
camp.
The European Union, Russia and the United States have all voiced
concern, without explicitly taking sides.
(China Daily via agencies April 10, 2007)
