Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KIEV2461
2006-06-22 17:06:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kyiv
Cable title:  

UKRAINE: COALITION OF DEMOCRATIC FORCES FINALLY

Tags:  PGOV PINR SOCI UP 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7713
OO RUEHDBU
DE RUEHKV #2461/01 1731706
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 221706Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY KIEV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0107
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KIEV 002461 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2016
TAGS: PGOV PINR SOCI UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: COALITION OF DEMOCRATIC FORCES FINALLY
CREATES A PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY, PERSONNEL TBD

REF: KIEV 2436

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i., for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KIEV 002461

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2016
TAGS: PGOV PINR SOCI UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: COALITION OF DEMOCRATIC FORCES FINALLY
CREATES A PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY, PERSONNEL TBD

REF: KIEV 2436

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i., for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) Nearly three months after the March 26 elections,
Yuliya Tymoshenko's Bloc (BYuT),Our Ukraine (OU),and the
Socialist Party (SPU) finally created a parliamentary
majority of the "Coalition of Democratic Forces" mid-day June
22 by presenting a coalition agreement with the signatures of
239 MPs, 13 more than the 226 required. There was no vote,
however, on a possible Rada Speaker or Prime Minister.
Outraged Regions MPs, who had been confidently predicting
earlier June 22 that there would be no Orange Coalition,
sputtered on their way out of the building on the way to a
war session back at party HQ (septel). The Rada then
recessed until June 27, when the coalition parties hope to
shepherd a vote to approve nominations for Prime Minister and
Rada Speaker, followed later in the week by nominations for
the rest of the Cabinet of Ministers and appointments of Rada
Committee Chairs. The coalition agreement stipulates a no
veto policy on personnel selections; parties have the right
to select their own nominees to the assigned positions within
their quotas. The entire parliamentary majority will caucus
June 23 to discuss the way forward and seek to heal some of
the divisiveness of the campaign and negotiations.


2. (C) A coalition briefing to the diplomatic corps late June
22 made clear that Our Ukraine has still not decided on whom
its Speaker nominee will be. Two names have been forwarded
by constituent parties--People's Union Our Ukraine's Petro
Poroshenko, and the Industrialists and Entrepreneurs' Party's
(IEP) Anatoliy Kinakh--but neither the Our Ukraine political
council nor the OU faction have discussed/approved the
position. That will occur early June 23; two members of the
seven-man OU Political Council did not rule out the
possibility of another name emerging. Acting FM Tarasyuk
later explained to us that fuzzy language in the coalition
document on NATO notwithstanding, the coalition had agreed
that the new PM will write a letter to NATO countries on

behalf of the new government clearly restating Ukraine's
Euro-Atlantic policy and desire for a Membership Action Plan
in 2006.

3, (C) Comment: the "Coalition of Democratic Forces"
succeeded in forming a Rada majority June 22, but until a PM,
Cabinet, and Rada leadership are approved, it is too early to
say that the coalition is fully operational. The open
question upon which many, including coalition members, are
already speculating is how long it will last in office. That
said, coalition members will be under pressure to make the
coalition work and produce results. End Summary and Comment.

Finally: a Rada majority forms
--------------


4. (SBU) June 22 began inauspiciously as usual for Team
Orange at the Rada. Shortly after the session opened, with
most of OU's MPs not on the floor, the BYuT representative on
the provisional presidium, deputy leader Oleksandr Turchynov,
was forced to ask for a short break to allow OU to "finish
gathering signatures" for the coalition agreement document.
(Note: OU and SP sources told us that Kinakh's faction MPs
had refused to sign the agreement, as they wanted Kinakh to
serve as the new Rada Speaker, and not Poroshenko.)
Following the break, Tymoshenko herself strode to the
rostrum, bathed in camera flashes, to announce triumphantly
that a "Coalition of Democratic Forces" had been formed with
239 MP signatures on the coalition document, adding with a
dramatic flourish: "Glory to Ukraine!"

Regions Lands A Punch On Yuliya...
--------------


5. (U) Regions MP Oleksandr Yefremov, the former governor of
Luhansk Oblast, followed Tymoshenko at the podium and blasted
the Orange coalition. At times pounding the podium with his
fist, Yefremov bellowed that the coalition would not take
care of the people of eastern Ukraine, who had largely voted
for Regions. In a reference to a much-publicized incident
during January's severe cold snap, Yefremov blamed the
Yushchenko administration for "letting the people of
Alchevesk freeze" rather than allocate money needed to repair
the city's dilapidated central heating system. "We have no
faith in your coalition," he said, wagging his finger at
Tymoshenko. Yefremov's comments were seconded by Communist
Party leader Petro Symonenko, who chided Tymoshenko for
agreeing to allow Poroshenko to serve as Rada Speaker, noting
-- to the cheers of Communist and Regions MPs -- that "last

KIEV 00002461 002 OF 003


year, you called him the most corrupt person in Ukraine."

...She Still Knocks Them To The Canvas...
--------------


6. (U) A visibly angry Tymoshenko returned to the podium to
pound Yefremov, calling him a crook "who stole money"
allocated for updating Alchevesk's heating system. Looking
directly at the Regions contingent, she said that under her
new government "bandits will sit in jail, not in ministerial
chairs." Shifting her focus to the BYuT and OU contingents,
she urged the coalition parties "to be very careful" about
who was nominated to fill ministerial positions, specifically
asking her colleagues not to nominate "people who will only
enrich themselves." As Regions MPs whistled and catcalled,
she snapped back at them that "I'm not talking to you, I'm
talking to the people" who will fill the senior positions in
the coalition government.

...And Then Has Turchynov Offer An Olive Branch
-------------- --


6. (SBU) Following a series of breaks to allow the Rada
Secretariat to verify the 239 MP signatures on the coalition

SIPDIS
agreement, some of which Regions MPs argued were forged, the
rotating chairman of today's session, Communist MP Adam
Martynyuk, announced that the Rada Secretariat had confirmed
that 239 MPs had signed the coalition agreement and that it
was therefore legal and valid. A subdued Turchynov then took
to the podium to ask the Rada to vote on adjourning until
June 27 at 10:00; the new coalition needed time to prepare
for votes on key government positions, he explained. In
sharp contrast to Tymoshenko's morning hostility towards
Regions, Turchynov, looking directly at the Regions
contingent, invited them to open a dialogue with the new
coalition about which government and Rada posts Regions
wanted to control. Slipping in one last dig, though, before
the session closed, Turchynov chortled that Regions "failed
to form a coalition with bribery and threats!" Regions MPs
were spitting venom as they rushed out of the Rada to an
emergency war session at party headquarters nearby (septel).

What next? Coalition Caucuses and Personnel Choices
-------------- --------------


7. (SBU) Acting FM and OU Political Council member Tarasyuk
chaired a coalition briefing for the diplomatic corps late
July 22, introducing BYuT Foreign Policy Adviser Hrihoriy
Nemyria, OU Party Secretary Roman Zvarych, and SPU MP Shybko
in turn. Highlights of the coalition agreement will be
reported septel. The main conclusions and the way forward
follow:

-- there will be a full coalition caucus meeting at the Rada
June 23 of all MPs in the three parties forming the
parliamentary majority.

-- The coalition agreement allots only positions to the three
parties; there are no individuals named.

-- That said, everyone understands that Tymoshenko will be PM.

-- No party has a veto over the other two parties' selections.

-- Our Ukraine (the bloc, the faction) has not yet determined
who its choice to fill the Speaker Slot will be. The
Political Council of Yushchenko's People's Union Our Ukraine,
which controls 40 of the 81 OU MPs, chose Poroshenko as its
nominee June 21 (reftel),but IEP nominated its leader
Kinakh. Neither the OU faction nor the bloc's political
council has met to discuss who will be the approved OU
Speaker nominee, according to Tarasyuk, who sits on the
latter council as Rukh Party leader, but they would meet June
23 prior to the full coalition caucus meeting to discuss the
matter Tarasyuk and Zvarych -- also on the council as party
and bloc Secretary -- did not rule out another candidate
emerging.

-- Notwithstanding the no veto principle, Zvarych
acknowledged the Speaker role would come up in the wider
coalition discussion June 23 (note: SPU leader Moroz had
stated from the Rada floor that Poroshenko as Speaker was not
a done deal).

-- The coalition hoped for a vote on both PM and Speaker
Tuesday June 27 when the Rada reconvenes.

-- Ideally, that would be followed by a vote June 29 on other
Cabinet nominees. Those nominees would likely come in two
batches: those whose names are proposed by the PM, and the
two (Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministers) proposed by

KIEV 00002461 003 OF 003


President Yushchenko.

-- Once the Cabinet is set, Rada Committee Chairs would be
selected, perhaps June 30, to allow the Rada to start
substantive work on legislation in committee.
Gwaltney