A different shade of Orange

Orange Revolution allies The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense bloc yesterday initialed an accord on forming a parliamentary coalition and a new government. The former Orange Revolution allies jointly control a narrow majority of 228 votes in the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada -- just two votes above the number needed to pass most legislation. The accord is to be finalized on the first day of the inaugural session of the Verkhovna Rada, which has not yet been scheduled.
Yulia Tymoshenko commented on the power sharing deal by stating,"Let me just say clearly that the election has led to a change in parliament. Power has changed hands in Ukraine and we have achieved the result we had hoped for. The parliament is new, those in power are new, and the democratic teams have grounds to reform all sectors of life so that people feel tangible changes in the country," she added.

According to media reports, Tymoshenko is to be nominated as prime minister by President Viktor Yushchenko, while cabinet portfolios are to be distributed on a 50-50 basis between the two blocs. The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc is to take charge of the cabinet's economic portfolios, while the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense bloc will run the ministries dealing with defense, security, and culture.

The Central Election Commission (TsVK) also yesterday announced the official results of the September 30 parliamentary elections. The Party of Regions won 34.37 percent of the vote (175 seats), the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc 30.71 percent (156 seats), the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense bloc 14.15 percent (72 seats), the Communist Party 5.39 percent (27 seats), and the Lytvyn Bloc 3.96 percent (20 seats). Out of nearly 39 million eligible voters, 23.3 million people took part in the ballot (62 percent).

Central Election Committee Deputy Chairwoman Zhanna Usenko-Chorna told journalists that "there are no legal grounds" to doubt the official election results. Meanwhile, Socialist Party lawmaker Yevhen Filindash told Interfax-Ukraine that some 3.5 million Ukrainians residing abroad were included on the voter lists, significantly influencing the final vote count. The Socialist Party complained about this to the Higher Administrative Court last week, but the court rejected the complaint, reportedly arguing that it does not consider election violations committed before the voting day.