|
What do Ukrainians ask would-be lawmakers about? Typically, campaign workers and candidates are handed questionnaires including the most likely questions of voters.
They may be a good thing to have during first meetings with voters. My experience of over 60 meetings with voters in the scores of rayon towns in Western and Central Ukraine’s nine oblasts has enabled me to compile an updated and more realistic questionnaire, a sort of a handbook for would-be deputies: a question and a brief answer taking into account the time of the election campaign and the location.
-- We support your drive to flock progressive orange parties in a coalition. What will your response be if BYT and Our Ukraine refuse to sign up for the coalition agreement?
-- There’s some time left before the voting day. The orange leaders still have time to give up their personal ambitions and sign a simple agreement – not to enter in a coalition with revenge-seekers ( Yanukovych, Lytvyn, Vitrenko, Symonenko), with whatever orange party winning most of the vote being entitled to nominate a premier. As regards candidates, it may be Tymoshenko or Yekhanurov or Lutsenko or Pynzenyk or other politicians. Failing the coalition agreement, Ukrainians must know that certain orange parties are scheming to form a so-called “grand coalition” with the Regions. One can imagine what kind of cooperation Yushchenko will have with Yanukovych! When PORA makes it to Verkhovna Rada, we’ll be a driving force behind the future coalition and won’t give a chance to any coalitions that will dash the hopes of Ukrainians for a better life and an honest government.
-- Can it happen that, provided we vote for the PORA-PRP, the bloc will not clear the 3% hurdle, thus ridding main orange parties of much-needed support?
- Ukrainians make the best pollster. We’ll learn the truth only the day following the voting day. But we advise you not to panic and fall for contract polls. Our idea is very simple. OU and BYT can jointly garner about 35% of the decided voters’ ballots. Where are the votes of almost 20% of Ukrainians who voted for Yushchenko in December 2004? These are the votes of Ukrainians who became disillusioned due to constant wrangling, ineffectual moves by some orange parties, failures to deliver their promises, etc. These voters refuse to vote for either Yekhanurov and Poroshenko or Tymoshenko and Turchynov. PORA-PRP is their ticket, because we also believe that the authorities have not started to deliver on their promises given to Ukrainians on the Maidan. Do not vote for a lesser or larger evil, vote for those who have never betrayed you. For a new generation that have grown up in the independent Ukraine and not in the Kuchma regime. PORA-PRP has unequivocally stated that no deals will be struck with thugs.
- Do we need 450 lawmakers in VR, if they don’t often show up for sessions, with their colleagues pushing the buttons?
-- Every four years I write articles about the work of lame duck legislatures. Facts indicate that some hundred Solons never take the floor or ever propose new laws. We really must ponder on whether we need so passive and so many lawmakers. However, the final decision is with the Solons themselves, because the Constitution has that number – 450. You can hardly believe that they will ever curb their freedoms and liberties.
-- What do you think about the deputy immunity? People with criminal records cannot become lawmakers! Some deputies never show up in VR; so why should they be paid for their jobs? How can this disgrace be dealt with?
-- PORA-PRP is strongly against immunity, both for VR and local council deputies. If the immunity is cancelled, many would-be deputies will not seek election as a means to escape from the law in the legislature.
-- Why have you thrashed Yulia Tymoshenko 20 times in your speech while she has not even mentioned you once in the negative vein?
- First, it’s not been 20 times. Second, do not perceive the truth about BYT as mud slinging. To illustrate, the head of BYT Rivne oblast staff is a former Kuchmist, Abdulin, who had for many years been involved in shady business deals with Bakaj and Volkov. We are not against Yulia Tymoshenko, we are against former Kuchmists getting to the parliament on the wave of patriotic votes of Western Ukrainians.
- The Gongadze murder case must be finally resolved, and real string-pullers, not hitmen must be imprisoned. When will Yushchenko make good on his promise?
-- The murder will be resolved when there is sufficient political will to put the true contractor behind bars, regardless of his name and former post.
- Will your bloc opt for recognizing the UPA a warring party?
- It’s the matter of our honor to vote for such law. I’m proud that my friend is Petro Saranchuk from Koniukhy in the Rivne Oblast, who spent 26 years in Soviet gulags and now lives in Mykolayiv. Saranchuk was highly valued by dissident poet Vasyl Stus who called Petro a totally dedicated and committed patriot.
--- Kravchuk, Kuchma and Yanukovych played havoc with Ukraine. Why aren’t they in prison, why do they bend over backwards to become deputies?
- Kuchma feels fine even outside VR. His fat pension and well-heeled billionaire son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk make his life very comfortable. The more so, that the recently passed law on the “children of the war” gives Kuchma even more benefits. While an ordinary pensioner [who was a child in WWII] will get an extra 100 hryvnias, Kuchma will get [due to the huge amount of his pension] 50 times more. Unfortunately, the political will of our highest statesmen leaves much to be desired. Failing this, murderers and crooks will go unpunished.
- What do you think about PORA-PRP No. 1 Vitaly Klychko?
- Klychko is a symbol of a successful, free and patriotic Ukraine. He is 35 years old, same age as me. Progressive journalists, publishers, athletes have rallied around PORA-PRP, and we need honest people in our ranks. PORA candidates’ average age is 33.
- It’s important that Klychko learn to speak Ukrainian in the run-up to the elections.
- He has done it! You must have missed TV segments on his recent meetings in Lviv and Lutsk, where Vitaly spoke Ukrainian, for the first time. I think, he did very well. Asked at the press conference why he had just started to speak Ukrainian, Klychko answered that only now do people around him speak the state language. He is a quick learner and always does his homework.
- Will a Mr Shufrych be ever taught his place?
- As soon as Vytaly Klychko gets into the VR hall… There are cases when the good should have strong fists.
-- We want you to cut the mind-boggling salaries of deputies and raise our beggarly pensions.
- The salaries of deputies are high, whereas those of ministers are sky-high. As far as I know, the fattest salaries are paid to the judges of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts. For instance, head of the Supreme Court Malyarenko, a candidate on the Lytvyn bloc’s top five, gets 65,000 hryvnias a month. CC judges get even more. The pensions of some categories of Ukrainians amount to 90% of their salaries – that’s in the five-digit range!
According to Yulia Tymoshenko, if she were premier, Ukraine wouldn’t pay for the Russian gas. What do you think about it?
- We are intelligent people, and are well aware that free gas is available only in gas death cameras.
- Once in VR, who will be the first criminals whom you’ll jail? Give the first three candidates.
- This is not a question to ask a journalist and politician. Ask the police. However, if I was at the helm, I’d summon for questioning Messrs. Kuchma, Lytvyn, Derkach Sr., and Kivalov. Ukraine won’t make any progress unless the murder of Gongadze and 2004 election rigging have been investigated.
One of the most eye-catching notes I received during my meetings with voters was written by an old lady: “Please, let Yanukovych return the watch he had forcefully taken away from my husband when they were in jail!”
Or this one: “Help Yushchenko, because his entourage will devour him. He has no true friends!”
To conclude, let me say again – PORA has not betrayed the Ukrainians or framed up Yushchenko. Still, we do not intend to close our eyes to what is being done (or not being done) in Ukraine.
Vakhtang Kipiani,
PORA candidate for VR
What do Ukrainians ask would-be lawmakers about? Typically, campaign workers and candidates are handed questionnaires including the most likely questions of voters.
They may be a good thing to have during first meetings with voters. My experience of over 60 meetings with voters in the scores of rayon towns in Western and Central Ukraine’s nine oblasts has enabled me to compile an updated and more realistic questionnaire, a sort of a handbook for would-be deputies: a question and a brief answer taking into account the time of the election campaign and the location.
-- We support your drive to flock progressive orange parties in a coalition. What will your response be if BYT and Our Ukraine refuse to sign up for the coalition agreement?
-- There’s some time left before the voting day. The orange leaders still have time to give up their personal ambitions and sign a simple agreement – not to enter in a coalition with revenge-seekers ( Yanukovych, Lytvyn, Vitrenko, Symonenko), with whatever orange party winning most of the vote being entitled to nominate a premier. As regards candidates, it may be Tymoshenko or Yekhanurov or Lutsenko or Pynzenyk or other politicians. Failing the coalition agreement, Ukrainians must know that certain orange parties are scheming to form a so-called “grand coalition” with the Regions. One can imagine what kind of cooperation Yushchenko will have with Yanukovych! When PORA makes it to Verkhovna Rada, we’ll be a driving force behind the future coalition and won’t give a chance to any coalitions that will dash the hopes of Ukrainians for a better life and an honest government.
-- Can it happen that, provided we vote for the PORA-PRP, the bloc will not clear the 3% hurdle, thus ridding main orange parties of much-needed support?
- Ukrainians make the best pollster. We’ll learn the truth only the day following the voting day. But we advise you not to panic and fall for contract polls. Our idea is very simple. OU and BYT can jointly garner about 35% of the decided voters’ ballots. Where are the votes of almost 20% of Ukrainians who voted for Yushchenko in December 2004? These are the votes of Ukrainians who became disillusioned due to constant wrangling, ineffectual moves by some orange parties, failures to deliver their promises, etc. These voters refuse to vote for either Yekhanurov and Poroshenko or Tymoshenko and Turchynov. PORA-PRP is their ticket, because we also believe that the authorities have not started to deliver on their promises given to Ukrainians on the Maidan. Do not vote for a lesser or larger evil, vote for those who have never betrayed you. For a new generation that have grown up in the independent Ukraine and not in the Kuchma regime. PORA-PRP has unequivocally stated that no deals will be struck with thugs.
- Do we need 450 lawmakers in VR, if they don’t often show up for sessions, with their colleagues pushing the buttons?
-- Every four years I write articles about the work of lame duck legislatures. Facts indicate that some hundred Solons never take the floor or ever propose new laws. We really must ponder on whether we need so passive and so many lawmakers. However, the final decision is with the Solons themselves, because the Constitution has that number – 450. You can hardly believe that they will ever curb their freedoms and liberties.
-- What do you think about the deputy immunity? People with criminal records cannot become lawmakers! Some deputies never show up in VR; so why should they be paid for their jobs? How can this disgrace be dealt with?
-- PORA-PRP is strongly against immunity, both for VR and local council deputies. If the immunity is cancelled, many would-be deputies will not seek election as a means to escape from the law in the legislature.
-- Why have you thrashed Yulia Tymoshenko 20 times in your speech while she has not even mentioned you once in the negative vein?
- First, it’s not been 20 times. Second, do not perceive the truth about BYT as mud slinging. To illustrate, the head of BYT Rivne oblast staff is a former Kuchmist, Abdulin, who had for many years been involved in shady business deals with Bakaj and Volkov. We are not against Yulia Tymoshenko, we are against former Kuchmists getting to the parliament on the wave of patriotic votes of Western Ukrainians.
- The Gongadze murder case must be finally resolved, and real string-pullers, not hitmen must be imprisoned. When will Yushchenko make good on his promise?
-- The murder will be resolved when there is sufficient political will to put the true contractor behind bars, regardless of his name and former post.
- Will your bloc opt for recognizing the UPA a warring party?
- It’s the matter of our honor to vote for such law. I’m proud that my friend is Petro Saranchuk from Koniukhy in the Rivne Oblast, who spent 26 years in Soviet gulags and now lives in Mykolayiv. Saranchuk was highly valued by dissident poet Vasyl Stus who called Petro a totally dedicated and committed patriot.
--- Kravchuk, Kuchma and Yanukovych played havoc with Ukraine. Why aren’t they in prison, why do they bend over backwards to become deputies?
- Kuchma feels fine even outside VR. His fat pension and well-heeled billionaire son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk make his life very comfortable. The more so, that the recently passed law on the “children of the war” gives Kuchma even more benefits. While an ordinary pensioner [who was a child in WWII] will get an extra 100 hryvnias, Kuchma will get [due to the huge amount of his pension] 50 times more. Unfortunately, the political will of our highest statesmen leaves much to be desired. Failing this, murderers and crooks will go unpunished.
- What do you think about PORA-PRP No. 1 Vitaly Klychko?
- Klychko is a symbol of a successful, free and patriotic Ukraine. He is 35 years old, same age as me. Progressive journalists, publishers, athletes have rallied around PORA-PRP, and we need honest people in our ranks. PORA candidates’ average age is 33.
- It’s important that Klychko learn to speak Ukrainian in the run-up to the elections.
- He has done it! You must have missed TV segments on his recent meetings in Lviv and Lutsk, where Vitaly spoke Ukrainian, for the first time. I think, he did very well. Asked at the press conference why he had just started to speak Ukrainian, Klychko answered that only now do people around him speak the state language. He is a quick learner and always does his homework.
- Will a Mr Shufrych be ever taught his place?
- As soon as Vytaly Klychko gets into the VR hall… There are cases when the good should have strong fists.
-- We want you to cut the mind-boggling salaries of deputies and raise our beggarly pensions.
- The salaries of deputies are high, whereas those of ministers are sky-high. As far as I know, the fattest salaries are paid to the judges of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts. For instance, head of the Supreme Court Malyarenko, a candidate on the Lytvyn bloc’s top five, gets 65,000 hryvnias a month. CC judges get even more. The pensions of some categories of Ukrainians amount to 90% of their salaries – that’s in the five-digit range!
According to Yulia Tymoshenko, if she were premier, Ukraine wouldn’t pay for the Russian gas. What do you think about it?
- We are intelligent people, and are well aware that free gas is available only in gas death cameras.
- Once in VR, who will be the first criminals whom you’ll jail? Give the first three candidates.
- This is not a question to ask a journalist and politician. Ask the police. However, if I was at the helm, I’d summon for questioning Messrs. Kuchma, Lytvyn, Derkach Sr., and Kivalov. Ukraine won’t make any progress unless the murder of Gongadze and 2004 election rigging have been investigated.
One of the most eye-catching notes I received during my meetings with voters was written by an old lady: “Please, let Yanukovych return the watch he had forcefully taken away from my husband when they were in jail!”
Or this one: “Help Yushchenko, because his entourage will devour him. He has no true friends!”
To conclude, let me say again – PORA has not betrayed the Ukrainians or framed up Yushchenko. Still, we do not intend to close our eyes to what is being done (or not being done) in Ukraine.
Vakhtang Kipiani,
PORA candidate for VR |
News 
