Ukraine waiting for a miracle
Ukraine waiting for a miracle

Summary/Abstract: It appears rather unlikely that early elections on 30 September forced by President Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the influential opposition grouping Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT), will make the domestic political situation in Ukraine more stable. The chances of resolving the ongoing crisis are slim because the election did not provide an answer to any of the disputed issues and because the results were so close that a governing coalition capable of long-term cooperation is rather unlikely to emerge. Issues still in limbo include how reform of the Ukrainian constitution, commenced in 2004 but still not concluded, will continue, and what kind of economic policy will be pursued by the new Ukrainian government – presumably composed of the BYuT and Our Ukraine (NU) – given that protraction of the instability will sooner or later inevitably lead to a decline in the growth rate of the Ukrainian economy (which has hitherto developed more or less independently of the political turmoil). Finally, the vote has also failed to adequately address the issue of how to reduce the country’s east-west divisions.

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