April 17, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 28, 1428

KIEV: Protesters thronging the streets and politicians deadlocked in the corridors of power: while some see chaos in Ukraine, others see the painful birth of a democratic culture in the ex-Soviet state.

No clear solution is in sight in the political crisis triggered when President Viktor Yushchenko announced on April 2 that he was dissolving parliament and calling early elections. In response, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych vowed to resist the order and stay in office.

As the constitutional court hesitates about ruling on the issue, Ukraine, whose 2004 pro-West Orange Revolution marked a break with its authoritarian past, faces being ruled by two rival power centres.

On the one side is the pro-Western president, eager to secure membership of the Nato military alliance, and on the other the Russia-leaning prime minister, who commands a majority in parliament.

Such uncertainty can be seen across much of formerly Communist-ruled eastern Europe, which has nonetheless enjoyed strong growth in recent years.

The Czech Republic weathered a seven-month vacuum last year as politicians struggled to form a government.

Optimists point out that while there have been large street protests by both sides in Ukraine, the dispute has not turned violent and economic growth does not seem to be hampered.

When it comes to Ukraine “the crises that shake the country are hazards of the democratic process,” said analyst Andriy Ermolayev of the Ukrainian research centre Sofia.

“All attempts to monopolise power provoke a counter-reaction,” he said.

Forming the backdrop to the crisis are sharp differences between the east and west of this country that stretches to the Don river basin in the east and the Polish border in the west and also includes the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. The west is mainly Ukrainian-speaking and looks to European Union countries such as Poland for inspiration while the more industrial east retains close ties to neighbouring Russia.

With Ukrainians weary of constant crises, the situation could create fertile ground for the authoritarian style of Yanukovych and Yushchenko’s Orange Revolution ally Yulia Tymoshenko, said analyst Volodymyr Fesenko of the Penta research centre.

“This society wants a strong leader. It is a post-Soviet syndrome and a reaction against Yushchenko,” he said.—AFP