UKRAINE: YUSHCHENKO'S CALL FOR MAY 27 PRE-TERM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KYIV 000790

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2014
TAGS: PGOV PREL UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: YUSHCHENKO'S CALL FOR MAY 27 PRE-TERM
ELECTIONS SETS OFF BUREAUCRATIC JOSTLING

REF: KYIV 784

Classified By: Ambassador for reasons 1.4(b,d).


1. (SBU) Summary: On April 2, after several days of tense
negotiations and peaceful street demonstrations, President
Yushchenko announced his intention to dissolve the Parliament
(Verkhovna Rada) and set May 27 as the date for new
elections; his decree was officially promulgated April 3. On
April 3, Yushchenko met with the Central Election Commission
(CEC) Chair Davydovych to outline the process for the
pre-term elections, which the commission head promised could
be accomplished in the time frame set by the president at the
cost of 340 million hryvnia ($68 million). The majority
coalition has resisted Yushchenko's efforts, passing
resolutions late April 2 after Yushchenko's speech that there
was no legal basis for the president's decision and banning
the government or national bank from financing elections; the
Cabinet confirmed the Rada ban on financing with its own
resolution April 3. A group of MPs subsequently submitted a
petition to the Constitutional Court to determine the
Presidential decree's constitutionality; the President also
appealed the Cabinet's resolution to the Constitutional
Court. The Rada majority also attempted late April 2 to
dismiss the current CEC and restore the previous election
committee headed by Regions MP Serhiy Kivalov, who had been
dismissed December 8, 2004 for his role in attempting to
falsify the 2004 Presidential elections and declare
Yanukovych rather than Yushchenko President. The Pechersk
district court threw out the Rada's April 2 CEC-related
resolutions late April 3, leading Kivalov to vow action to
unseat the judges. Mid-day April 4, 20 coalition MPs arrived
at the CEC Chair's office, amidst conflicting reports
regarding their purpose; one MP told reporters that they
planned to remain until May 27 to prevent the CEC from
implementing the decree's call for new elections.


2. (C) Comment: Yushchenko's decision to issue a decree
dismissing the Rada and calling new elections for May 27 is
considered legally binding until/unless it is overturned by
Constitutional Court review. Kyiv was awash in rumors April
4 that Constitutional Court Chair Dombrovsky had resigned
under political pressure (according to PM Yanukovych and
Speaker Moroz) or hospitalized (various MPs and Transport
Minister Rudkovsky),but Constitutional Court Judge Shyskin
confirmed to us privately late April 4 that Dombrovsky had
chaired the Court's morning and afternoon sessions and that
there had been no talk about resignation. The ruling
majority continues to keep its options open as of April 4,
condemning the decree, appealing it, denying funding for
elections, pressuring the CEC, and calling on Yushchenko to
negotiate, but also sending signals of confidence that it
would prevail in new elections if it came to a vote.
Demonstrators for both sides have remained peaceful
throughout this crisis. However, the continued efforts by
the Coalition to reinstall the thoroughly discredited Kivalov
are troubling. We will continue to encourage both sides
reach a peaceful and workable solution within the framework
of Ukrainian law. End Summary and Comment.

Yushchenko: Prepare for elections May 27
--------------


3. (SBU) President Yushchenko announced on national
television late on April 2 the dissolution of the Rada and
holding of pre-term elections on May 27; the official decree
was promulgated in the Presidential Bulletin April 3, making
it legal until/unless the Constitutional Court were to
overturn it. Yushchenko's announcement came after several
days of tense negotiations and peaceful demonstrations
involving tens of thousands of protesters supporting both the
ruling government coalition (Party of Regions, Socialists,
and Communists) and the opposition (Our Ukraine, Yulia
Tymoshenko Bloc, Yuri Lutsenko's People's Self Defense Civic
movement) barely 200 meters from each other in downtown Kyiv.
Yushchenko told the nation that he was dissolving the Rada
because its majority had been formed against the will of the
people expressed in the March 2006 elections, the Cabinet
Ministers was working against the constitution, and that the
National Unity Coalition was actually acting against the
interest of national unity.


4. (SBU) On April 3, Yushchenko met with the head of the
Central Election Commission (CEC),Yaroslav Davydovych, to
discuss implementation of the elections. Davydovych stated
that the elections could be conducted by the May 27 date set
by the president. Davydovych announced later that the head of
the National Defense and Security Council, Vitaliy Haiduk,
would be in charge of financing the election and estimated it
would cost 340 million hryvnia ($68 million) to finance the
elections. Yushchenko told reporters that the he was taking
steps to ensure that the elections will be conducted in a
democratic and legal manner without disruption to the
country.
Coalition Fights Back - Rada and Cabinet Reaction
-------------- --------------


5. (SBU) The Rada convened an extraordinary session of the
Rada majority plus the entire cabinet and PM Yanukovych on
April 2, less than an hour before Yushchenko addressed the
nation, subsequently adopted a series of resolutions
challenging Yushchenko's decision. Rada Speaker Moroz opened
the session by relaying what Yushchenko had explained in
consultations earlier in the day as his rationale (reftel)
but stating there was no legal basis. The Rada adopted
resolutions calling the president's decree unconstitutional
and a destabilizing and dangerous precedent. The Rada also
issued a decree prohibiting the Cabinet of Ministers from
allocating state funds for the pre-term elections. On April
3, the Rada majority submitted a petition to the
Constitutional Court asking it to declare the President's
decree unconstitutional and issued a decree prohibiting the
National Bank from funding activities related to the
President's decree until the Constitutional Court determines
the decree's constitutionality. The Cabinet, meeting on
April 3, confirmed the Rada resolution, passing its own
resolution forbidding funding of new elections. (Note:
President Yushchenko has appealed the Cabinet's resolution to
the Constitutional Court).

Which Central Election Committee?
--------------


6. (SBU) The Rada also passed resolutions seeking to
overturn two resolutions from December 8, 2004 relating to
the composition Central Election Commission, essentially
aiming to reseat the CEC chaired by Serhiy Kivalov which in
November 2004 declared Yanukovych the winner of the falsified
second round presidential election. Kivalov initially told
the press that he could conduct the first CEC meeting under
his leadership immediately, but later said he had 20 days to
decide whether to remain an MP.


7. (C) Initial response from legal experts and opposition
politicians rejected the legality of the Rada's move. Ex-CEC
member and Our Ukraine MP Ruslan Knyazevych told reporters
that the April 2 Rada resolution was unconstitutional because
the Rada could only appoint and dismiss CEC members at the
president's request; there had been none. He added that the
current CEC was legitimate, that it has 156 million hryvnia
($31.2 million) available, and could take funds from local
budgets to meet the 340 million hryvnia budget estimate.
Yushchenko told G-7 ambassadors April 3 that the attempt to
reinstall Kivalov demonstrated compromise with the Rada was
impossible and justified his dismissal decree (reftel).


8. (SBU) On April 3, the CEC press service stated that the
Pechersk District Court threw out the April 2 Rada
resolutions based on the appeal of three CEC members who
contended that the resolutions violated the Law on the
Central Election Committee. Kivalov, who claimed to
reporters that he had been illegally dismissed as the CEC
head in 2004, said that, as a member of the Higher Council of
Justice (a governmental body for judicial oversight; Kivalov
sits on it as Head of the Rada's Judicial Committee),he
intended to demand the dismissal of the Pechersk court judges
for their decision.


9. (C) During an April 4 meeting with the dip corps, PM
Yanukovych complained that the CEC contained no Regions'
representatives, and that the CEC needed balancing. (Note: we
will check on whether any CEC members/nominees are
party-based; many, such as current Chair Davydovych, are
non-partisan, long-time civil servants.)

An MP Courtesy Call on the CEC?
--------------


10. (SBU) The CEC press service reported mid-day that 20
Coalition MPs had entered CEC Chair Davydovych's office and
shut the door (note: MPs have the right of access to all
government facilities. End note). CEC staffers told us that
the coalition MPs were agitating for Kivalov's reinstatement
and Davydovych's dismissal. Socialist MP Yevhen Filindash
told reporters prior to arrival that they intended to remain
at the CEC until May 27 with the goal of preventing the
commission from "destabilizing" the situation in the country
by implementing the "unconstitutional" decree. Regions MP
Kalentik, speaking at the Rada's 1700 session, said he had
been one of the 20 visitors and claimed that CEC security
guards arrived ten minutes after the meeting with Davydovych
started and had tried to lock them in the office. As of
1900, our contacts reported that some coalition MPs, less
than the original 20, remained in the CEC building.


11. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
Taylor