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7 Will the Ukrainian Parliament Counterbalance Superpresidentialism? 7 WILL THE UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT COUNTERBALANCE SUPERPRESIDENTIALISM? OLEKSANDR SYNIOOKYI INTRODUCTION It has become conventional wisdom that one of the decisive reasons for the polarization of the political regimes of the former socialist countries is the balance of power between the parliament and the president. Western post-communist (Višegrad and Baltic) countries, which are moving toward the European mega-area, chose parliamentarism or semi-presidentialism with a weak presidency, while Eastern post-communist (CIS or Eurasian) countries chose semi- presidentialism with extremely strong presidency.1 According to this parameter, despite its self-assertion as a European country, Ukraine has remained a typically Eurasian country. This situation becomes even more intriguing if one considers that Ukraine is a rare case among CIS countries, in which the constitution was adopted in a civilized way, by compromise between the president and the parliament, while in other CIS countries the constitutions were adopted after shelling the parliament or an anti-constitutional plebiscite-“referendum.” As a result, the 1996 Ukrainian Constitution has a certain (if not significant) number of merits, absent in the constitutions of other CIS countries, the most significant of which is the lack of presidential prerogative to dissolve the parliament in case of the its repeated rejection of the presidential candidate for prime minister. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian parliamentary opposition has not been able to exploit this advantage. Recent political developments in Ukraine added actuality to the study of this issue. From the end of 2003 to April 2004, the pro-Kuchma forces attempted to amend the 1996 Constitution for transition from a 1 Kimitaka Matsuzato, “Semi-Presidentialism in Ukraine: Institutionalist Centrism in Rampant Clan Politics,” forthcoming in Demokratizatsiya. 137 EMERGING MESO-AREAS IN THE FORMER SOCIALIST COUNTRIES president-parliamentary to a premier-presidential system.2 This attempt was based on the perspective that V. Yushchenko, Kuchma’s rival, would win the 2004 presidential elections. Although, in this negative context, the pro-Kuchma forces’ attempts revealed that a decisive factor determining the characteristics of the Ukrainian political regime is the relation between the president and parliament. With this situation in mind, this chapter will focus on the interrelations between parliamentarism and presidentialism in Ukraine, paying attention to the political and judicial factors that affected this relationship. Based on this empirical investigation, this author hopes to propose several measures to strengthen the role of the parliament. Unfortunately, a study of the bibliography on this subject suggests that neither Ukrainian nor foreign researchers have studied it deeply. Political scientists in Ukraine describe contemporary Ukrainian parliamentarism in the context of the tradition of Western democracy or Ukrainian ancient history. Reading their writings, one gains the impression that he/she will learn more about American, British or German than Ukrainian parliamentarism. Likewise, the literature dedicated exclusively to Ukrainian parliamentary history provides detailed descriptions of ancient historical events (beginning with the Greek settlements within the boundaries of present-day Ukraine and Kievan Rus’), but the authors appear to run out of energy as they come closer to the present-day Ukrainian politics. The studies of the contemporary Ukrainian parliament, as a rule, target technical aspects, such as various regulations and procedures, rather than the fundamental issue of its relations with other branches of power.3 In contrast, non-governmental think tanks in Ukraine show interest towards parliamentarism. These think tanks are producing most valuable research today. Western political scientists seem to have been more interested in ethnolinguistic factors in Ukrainian politics,4 elections and electoral 2 On the concept of semipresidentialism, see: Robert Elgie, ed., Semi-Presidentialism in Europe (Oxford, New York, 1999). On the concepts of president-parliamentary systems and premier-parliament systems, see: Matthew S. Shugart and John M. Carey, Presidents and Assemblies: Constitutional Design and Electoral Dynamics (New York, 1992), pp. 55-75. 3 A rare exception to this dismal situation is: R.M. Pavlenko, Parlaments’ka vidpovidal’nist’ uriadu: svitovyi ta ukrains’kyi dosvid (Kyiv, 2002). 4 Andrew Wilson, Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s. A Minority Faith (Cambridge: UK, 1997); Idem, The Ukrainians. Unexpected Nation (New Haven, London, 2000). 138 WILL THE UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT COUNTERBALANCE SUPERPRESIDENTIALISM? geography,5 and political parties and clans,6 than political institutions. Rare exceptions to this tendency7 reveal the infancy of its study. This becomes yet stranger if one considers that the Russian parliament, however weak it is, continues to attract scholarly interest.8 Only very recently, under the impact of the aforementioned attempted constitutional reform to strengthen the parliament, experts and representatives of foreign organizations began to pay more attention to the Ukrainian parliament. THE EMERGENCE OF PARLIAMENTARISM AND PRESIDENTIALISM IN UKRAINE 1990–1996 Even before the first free parliamentary elections in 1990 the Supreme Rada of Ukraine, ruled by the 1978 Constitution of the UkrSSR, shared a number of formal features with Western democratic legislatures. In reality, however, the Rada operated on a temporary basis, 5 Peter R. Craumer and James I. Clem, “Ukraine’s Emerging Electoral Geography: A Regional Analysis of the 1998 Parliamentary Elections,” Post-Soviet Geography and Economics 40:1 (1999), pp. 1-26; Sarah Birch, Elections and Democratization in Ukraine (New York, 2000); Kimitaka Matsuzato, “All Kuchma’s Men: The Reshuffling of Ukrainian Governors and the Presidential Election of 1999,” Post-Soviet Geography and Economics 42:6 (2001), pp. 416-439. 6 Hans van Zon, The Political Economy of Independent Ukraine (Houndmille, London, 2000); Kimitaka Matsuzato, “Elite and the Party System of Zakarpattia Oblast: Relations among the Levels of Party Systems in Ukraine,” Europe-Asia Studies 54:8 (2002), pp. 1265-1299. 7 Andrew Wilson, “Ukraine: Two Presidents and Their Powers,” Ray Taras, ed., Postcommunist Presidencies (Cambridge: UK, 1997); Idem, “Ukraine,” Robert Elgie, ed., Semi-Presidentialism in Europe (Oxford, New York, 1999); Charles R. Wise and Volodymyr Pigenko, “The Separation of Powers Puzzle in Ukraine: Sorting Out Responsibilities and Relationships between President, Parliament, and the Prime Minister,” Taras Kuzio et al., eds., State and Institution Building in Ukraine (Houndmills, London, 1999), pp. 25-55. 8 Joel M. Ostrow, Comparing Post-Soviet Legislatures: A Theory of Institutional Design and Political Conflict (Columbus, 2000); Thomas F. Remington, “The Evolution of Executive- Legislative Relations in Russia since 1993,” Slavic Review 59:3 (2000), pp. 499-520; Idem, “Majorities without Mandates: The Russian Federation Council since 2000,” Europe- Asia Studies 55:5 (2003), pp. 667-691. 139 EMERGING MESO-AREAS IN THE FORMER SOCIALIST COUNTRIES convening twice a year for brief sessions, which were well-orchestrated to pass bills and laws unanimously. The agenda was always carefully deliberated to every technical detail. The Supreme Rada’s activities were guided by its Presidium. Under Article 106 of the 1978 Constitution, the Presidium was established as a permanent body of the Supreme Rada that performed as the highest state authority between sessions. It was a collective body vested with the functions of the head of state. The Presidium was entitled to issue decrees, interpret laws, cancel resolutions and instructions of regional councils, set up and abolish ministries and state committees on the request of the cabinet of ministers, appoint and dismiss ministers and authorize representatives of the UkrSSR in foreign countries, and accept foreign credentials.9 Such a cumbersome model of government was not able to cope with the acute social and economic crises in the USSR at the end of 1980s. Therefore, after declaring the sovereignty of Ukraine on July 16, 1990, the Supreme Rada began to amend the UkrSSR Constitution and other laws of the republic in order to introduce a presidency in the UkrSSR. In accordance with the new Article 114-1 of the amended Constitution, the president was the highest public official of the Ukrainian state and simultaneously the head of the executive branch.10 The president was to propose to the parliament candidates for prime minister, request his dismissal, and appoint the ministers of defense, national security and emergencies, internal affairs, foreign affairs, finance, and justice, as well as the head of the State Security Committee with the consent of Supreme Rada.11 Moreover, the Rada adopted the Law on Presidential Powers, which provided the president with all necessary authority to govern the country. At the beginning of 1992, the 1978 Constitution was amended again to include the provisions that deprived the Supreme Rada’s Presidium of its prerogatives and 9 The powers of the Presidium of the UkrSSR Supreme Rada are listed in accordance with Article 106 of the UkrSSR Constitution. However, the majority of these powers were gradually taken away from the Presidium after mid-1991. 10 Note that under the current Constitution passed on June 28, 1996 the president is only the head of state with no subordination of the executive
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