Ukraine Avoids Tense Political Showdown by Agreeing on Early Elections
In the Ukraine, lawmakers have passed a set of bills that will enable the country to have early parliamentary elections which could be a critical step in terms of solving the political crisis in that country that some think may turn violent.
In a deal brokered between President Viktor Yushchenko and his political rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, elections are going to be held September 30th. Political tensions have been high between the two men, especially after Yushchenko issued an order April 2 to dissolve parliament while accusing Yanukovych’s majority coalition over trying to undermine his power and authority. Yanukovych has called the order unconstitutional.
Things became even more heated a week ago after the president fired the prosecutor-general, Svyatoslav Piskun. Piskun is a member of Yanukovych’s party so this led the Interior Ministry, headed up by another ally of Yanukovych to send police to prevent Piskun from being evicted from his office.
After that, Yushchenko took command of the Interior Ministry’s troops and sent armed squads into the capital. Fortunately the situation has relaxed with the agreement that has been reached on the early elections.
The two men ran against each other in the 2004 presidential elections in which Yushchenko ended up winning in a court ordered repeat of voting due to fraud in the first vote.
