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On
May 17 Supreme Rada will vote for the second time to put on the agenda the issue
of impeachment of President Leonid Kuchma.
Collection of signatures for putting impeachment on the agenda continues
in the Parliament. If 226 votes are
collected the question of starting the impeachment will be automatically
included in the day's program. On
26 April the issue did not gain a sufficient number of votes: 206 deputies voted
“for” compared to 226 required. In
April, non-factional national deputies Grigori Omelnichenko and Anatoli Yermak
proposed the project of the decree on commencing the impeachment procedure.
In accordance with the project, it is suggested to form a Special
temporary investigation commission in the composition that deputy factions and
groups propose in order to hold an inquiry into Leonid Kuchma’s activities in
the position of premier-minister and president.
Meanwhile,
an increasing number of supporters of a national referendum on Kuchma’s
dismissal emerge in Ukraine. For
instance the Ukrainian Public Committee of Resistance “For Truth!” (PCR
“For Truth!”) changed its negative opinion concerning the idea of holding a
referendum. Under the pressure of
regional organizations’ representatives, “For Truth!” adopted a statement,
which notes that the committee regards the referendum “with understanding”
and “does not object against the participation of its members in the
preparation and performance of the referendum.”
On
the session of the Coordination Council, Committee “For Truth!” “was
practically compelled to support the idea of the referendum on the dismissal of
the president from power,” committees report states. The position of the
committee, whose leaders deputies Taras Stetskiv and Taras Chornovil had
repeatedly criticized the idea of a referendum, was revised due to the tough
stand of regional organizations, Kharkov organization specifically, which have
managed already to pass a resolution on full support of referendum on their
meeting. The question of expelling
Oles Donia for participation in the headquarters for referendum’s preparation
was not even raised for discussion on the meeting, committee reports.
To
remind, previously the Coordination Council of the committee had decided that
the public committee of resistance “For Truth!” would not participate in the
preparation and conduction of the common Ukrainian referendum on the issue of
the country’s president Leonid Kuchma’s dismissal.
In addition, PCR “For Truth!” did not object to having its members
take part as private persons in the arrangements for planning and carrying out
the referendum. Yulia Tioshenko,
ex-vice-premier and leader of the party “Batkivshina”, initiated the
referendum for discharge of Leonid Kuchma and this idea particularly contributed
to another split in the opposition.
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