Ukraine was engulfed in political turmoil yesterday after parliament vowed to defy President Viktor Yushchenko's order to dissolve the legislature and hold snap elections, the same day that Yushchenko's decree to dissolve the parliament came into force.
The decree puts him in direct confrontation with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.
Thousands of Yanukovych's supporters streamed into the Ukrainian capital yesterday to protest Yushchenko's order to dissolve parliament. The decree, published in the official gazette, also set a parliamentary election for May 27.
PHOTO: AP
The decision has created the most serious political crisis since the 2004 Orange Revolution.
Yanukovych's supporters expanded a tent camp outside the parliament, while Yushchenko's followers announced plans to set up a stage in Independence Square -- echoes of the mass protests more than two years ago that helped to propel the pro-Western Yushchenko to the presidency.
Ukrainian news media reported that buses and trains were bringing thousands more Yanukovych supporters to Kiev from his power base in the country's Russian-speaking east. Much of Yushchenko's political support comes from the Ukrainian-speaking west.
The tough stances adopted by both sides have raised tensions in the former Soviet republic.
Lawmakers from Yanukovich's coalition in parliament have written to the Constitutional Court asking it to rule on whether Yushchenko was acting legally by dissolving parliament, Interfax news agency reported yesterday.
Parliament will continue sitting until the election. Meanwhile, lawmakers from the parliamentary majority voted overnight to dissolve the Central Electoral Commission and block election funding in a bid to prevent polls from being held next month.
At a stormy Cabinet meeting, Defense Minister Anatoly Grytsenko, one of Yushchenko's two supporters in the government, backed the president and said the Ukrainian army would follow his orders.
The rest of the Cabinet voted overwhelmingly to support parliament's defiance and Yanukovych asked the president to retract his order for the sake of stability.
Yanukovych was due to address the nation late yesterday, news reports said.
Yushchenko said on live television late on Monday it was his duty to dissolve parliament because it had violated the Constitution.
"My actions were prompted by a crucial need to preserve the the state, its sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said.
The president, who advocates future EU and NATO membership, said Ukraine's affairs were "under control."
Yushchenko beat Yanukovich in the re-run of the rigged 2004 election that triggered the "Orange Revolution" protests. His powers have been cut since by constitutional change and his popularity has sunk after liberals accused him of indecision.
Opinion polls suggested that parliament would once again be split between Yanukovich's supporters and his opponents.
The majority coalition in the 450-seat legislature, the Verkhovna Rada, would continue meeting in the parliament hall until the Constitutional Court rules on the validity of Yushchenko's order, Yanukovych said yesterday.
The president and the prime minister were to hold discussions on the crisis yesterday afternoon, but the prospect of either one climbing down appeared small.
``We're really at an impasse because both sides have gone beyond the point of no return,'' independent political analyst Ivan Lozowy said. ``The nature of both is that a compromise is almost excluded.''
Both the US State Department and the Russian Foreign Ministry urged the sides to maintain calm. Yushchenko was to meet yesterday with the ambassadors of the G8 countries, a demonstration of the significance that the West and Russia place on stability in the country.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese