Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Good News Yushchenko Pushes for Referendum on Polit Reform:

This is good news; such a major change to the constitution, constructed as a compromise of which many were critical between the opposition and the despised authorities, should most definitely go to the public in a referendum. . .

From RFE newsline:

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT PREDICTS REFERENDUM ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM.President Viktor Yushchenko said in an interview with four Ukrainiantelevision channels on 13 January that he will seek a referendum onthe constitutional amendments of 2004 that limited presidentialpowers in favor of the parliament and the cabinet, the OBKOM website(http://ru.obkom.net.ua) reported. "There will be a specialannouncement [regarding the referendum]," Yushchenko said. "I thinkit is obvious for every citizen that the topic of the changes to theconstitution, its legal aspect, and the search for legal ways toovercome this problem is on the national agenda. Ukraine will have adifficult future with such amendments and procedures." Yushchenkostressed that the constitutional reform was adopted withoutsufficient public discussion. "I think 95 percent [of Ukrainians]will tell you that they don't have any information [about theconstitutional reform]," Yushchenko asserted. "They don't know thatthese changes were not proposed for public discussion, that they werenot discussed in the parliament. Everything was done on the sly." JM

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