03 April 2007
Ukrainian Political Parties Urged To Resolve Dispute Peacefully
State Department calls for calm following dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada
Washington -- The Bush administration is calling on Ukraine’s political leaders and their supporters to refrain from violence and maintain “an atmosphere of calm” following President Viktor Yushchenko’s April 2 decision to dissolve the country’s parliament.
“We are monitoring closely developments in Ukraine and urge all parties to respect the rule of law and resolve disputes nonviolently, in a manner consistent with Ukraine's democratic values and national interests,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in an April 2 statement.
In remarks to the press April 3, McCormack urged all of the country’s political parties to work together “in an atmosphere of calm, free from violence and free from any acts that might provoke the other side into violence.”
Yushchenko’s decision to disband the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, came after months of disputes with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was appointed in August 2006.
McCormack said the United States supports freedom and democracy in the country, and noted that Yushchenko was elected by the Ukrainian people in 2004. McCormack encouraged Yushchenko and “everybody else in this political process to abide by Ukraine's laws and constitution.”
The November 2004 election, which pitted Yushchenko and Yanukovych against each other in a run-off vote for the presidency, was compromised by corruption, voter intimidation and electoral fraud, triggering popular protests known as the Orange Revolution. After new voting December 26, 2004, closely monitored by domestic and international observers, Yushchenko was declared the official winner. (See related article.)
McCormack, in subsequent remarks April 3, said the United States wants Ukraine’s democracy to “continue to develop,” so that the “hard fought gains of the Ukrainian people aren’t put to the side by a political crisis.”
In apparent reference to the Orange Revolution, he said, “the Ukrainian people have demonstrated before that they can, through nonviolent protests [and] nonviolent means, resolve political differences in their political system.”
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
