Andrey Lubensky: Ukrainian president seems to have the successor now
The head of the political party For A Unified Ukraine is Vladimir Litvin, the chairman of the presidential administration. Therefore, the president stated where the party in power is and where the advantages will be during the coming parliamentary elections. The Working Ukraine, the People’s and Democratic party, the Party of the Regions, and the Agrarian Party all had to experience failure to win separately. These parties did not improve their relations when they found themselves inside the bloc. The observers had doubts pertaining to the efficiency of the bloc, since the contradictions between the labour, agrarian, and regional issues seemed to be impossible to settle. Probably, this was the reason why there was such a need in a leader whom everyone would obey at once. Vladimir Litvin is just the right guy. If he goes on vacation before the period of the pre-election campaign, then he will keep the control over the presidential administration, with all the advantages following from this.
If assuming that the coming parliamentary elections in Ukraine will be like a rehearsal session of the presidential elections, then it is possible to say that incumbent President Leonid Kuchma has made up his mind about his successor.
However, it may not be a matter of Litvin’s presidential ambitions but the future issues of the Ukrainian president. These issues will surely have to be dealt with immediately after Kuchma goes from being the president to a common citizen. If Viktor Yushenko (the Ukrainian ex-premier) becomes the president in 2004, who is currently being so loyal, there will be problems. If Julia Timoshenko (former vice-premier of Ukraine) is elected president, then there will be big problems. Therefore, the best thing to do now is to elect Vladimir Litvin for the position of the president. Ukrainian Sociology Service informed, the new bloc is not really popular among the electors of the country. Litvin is not really known for the people either, so the bloc is not likely to gain popularity in the nearest future. However, only naive spokesmen for the Council of Europe may hope for honest elections in Ukraine. There are not many blind people within the country, though.
Andrey Lubensky PRAVDA.Ru Ukraine
On the photo: Julia Timoshenko - the former Ukrainian vice-premier. She was arrested because she posed a big threat to President Kuchma, since she had considerable influence on the parliament
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Read the original in Russian: http://pravda.ru/main/2001/11/19/33946.html
