December 10

The President met with Arseniy Yatseniuk to discuss once again candidacies for the posts of prime minister, foreign minister and defense minister. VictorYushchenko also met with Yuliya Tymoshenko, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko and Yuriy Lutsenko, the democratic coalition’s leaders, to discuss preparation for the oncoming session of the parliament planning to consider the issue of appointing Yuliya Tymoshenko for prime minister’s post nominated by the president on December 6.

Representatives of the Party of Regions suppose that selecting prime minister before forming the parliamentary committees breaks the parliament’s order. Volodymyr Sivkovych, an MP from the Party of Regions, stated that the party did not object to vote on prime minister on Tuesday, December 11, but only if votes on vice speaker and on parliamentary committees took place prior to the vote on prime minister.  

 

The Party of Regions would not vote on Tymoshenko’s candidacy for prime minister’s post “because of some political reasons”, stated Rayisa Bohatyriova, an MP from the Party of Regions. As she said, the Party of Regions would support neither the staff, nor the program of the Cabinet of Ministers headed by Tymoshenko. The Lytvyn bloc declared its opposition to Tymoshenko’s candidacy as well.

 

As informed by the Presidential Office, Victor Yushchenko would submit nomination of Yuliya Tymoshenko for prime minister’s post to the Verkhovna Rada for the second time.  Concurrently,candidacies of Yuriy Yehanurov and Volodymyr Ohryzko will be nominated for defense minister’s and foreign minister’s posts correspondingly.

By the results of the action “Not selling ourselves” aimed at revealing ordered or faked materials on Ukrainian TV channels, the “Facty” (facts) TV program on the ICTV channel took the first place having broadcasted 11 dubiousTVmaterials in accordance with the monitoring held by independent experts.   The second placein the anti ratingwas occupied by the “Pidsumky” TV program on the “Era” TV channel. “Inter”, “Tonis”, the 1st National Channel, and the 5th channel were mentioned by the experts as TV channels broadcasting news free from faked or ordered materials.

December 12

The Party of Regions blocked the parliament’s work. The  Regions categorically demanded from the opponents to vote on vice speaker and on parliamentary committees prior to vote on a candidacy for prime minister. Besides, the Party of Regions’ representatives stated that they expected a new candidacy to be nominated for the post of prime minister by the coalition.

 

The coalition majority was ready to renounce key parliamentary committees in favor of the opposition that would enable the opposition to control the power, statedRoman Zvarych, the NUNS bloc representative.

December 13

The Verkhovna Rada approved the number and staff of the parliamentary committees. The Party of Regions obtained the following committees: on House-Building, Town-Planning, Housing and Communal Services and Regional Policy; on Agricultural Policy and Land Relations; on Health Protection; on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations;  on Parliament’s order; on Word Freedom; on Social Policy and Labor; on Transport and Communication; on Financial and Bank Activities. The Communist Party of Ukraine received the Committee on Struggle Against Organized Criminality and Corruption; the Committee on Economic Policy; the Committee on Privatization. The Lytvyn bloc got the Budget Committee. The Yuliya Tymoshenko bloc obtained the following committees: on Ecological Policy, Nature Management and Liquidation of the disaster on the Chornobil Atomic Power Station; on Legislative Securing of Law-Enforcement Activities; on Foreign Affairs; on Culture; on Science and Education; on National Security and Defense; on Pensioners’ and Disabled People’s interests; on Tax and Custom Policies; on Industrial and Business Policy; on Family, Youth, Sport and Tourism Policies; The NUNS bloc  received the committees: on State Building and Local Governing; on Euro Integration; on  Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Security. The NUNS bloc and the Party of Regionstried to divide among themselves the Law Policy Committee and the Committee on Justice.

 

A vote on Tymoshenko’s candidacy for prime minister was appointed for Friday, December 14, stated Arseniy Yatseniuk, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, closing the evening session of the parliament.

 

The YTB strengthened guarding of its leader in view of the recent statements about possible attacks on her. As Turchynov, one of the YTB’s leaders, said, theissue was raised by Serhiy Markov, a Russian political scientist, having placed information regarding attempts to attack Yuliya Tymoshenko on his Internet site.

December 14

The Verkhovna Rada postponed the vote on prime minister till Tuesday, December 18. The item was put to be the first one on the agenda. Besides, the items regarding resignation of the acting prime minister and the acting government and forming new governments were put on the agenda as well. The parliament also took the decision on changing the type of vote. In accordance with the decision, MPs will vote with hands confirming aloud their choices.