Inside News on Odessa and Ukraine
One of the (United-ish) opposition platforms for their next term in opposition has been stated as creating more anti-corruption laws as outlined here. As I wrote only a few days ago, Ukraine does not need more anti-corruption laws. It has plenty. In fact, not only does Ukraine have plenty of anti-corruption laws, the laws it has […]
Uggggghhhhhhhh! In the first real test of cohesiveness after the voting on 28th October, the opposition parties are doing their very best within a week of proving my previous statements about their (in)ability to work together correct - in the fastest time possible. Sometimes I write something in the hope of being proved absolutely and […]
The Venice Commission, when looking at the proposed new law on the Public Prosecutors Office of Ukraine, has in summary, made it clear that whilst the new law goes a long way to improving matters and generally brings Ukraine into EU norms (with the need for some clarifications in the text - although not that […]
Unraveling before it’s begun? The United Opposition has been trying desperately to get UDAR, as of 18th October polling ahead of them, to sign a coalition agreement of opposition forces prior to the elections. It has now officially failed to do so. To be fair to UDAR, there really is no rush to sign coalition […]
No, no, no. UDAR are not about to join the United Opposition. They are very much enjoying the 3rd choice position and have now overtaken the United Opposition in the opinion polls just as I suggested they would. Simply they have much more to lose rather than to gain by joining the United Opposition, as […]
Sometimes I despair! Two days ago saw the major Ukrainian political parties selecting the MPs who will sit on the party lists for the seats allocated via the proportional representation part of the electoral system. Ergo, these MPs are not in a head-to-head election for a particular seat against another specific candidate but are simply […]
For some quite unknown reason, I have recently taken to commenting about the electioneering adverts of various contenders in the forthcoming Ukrainian parliamentary October elections on twitter. To my surprise it has been quite popular and subjected to numerous retweets on occasion. That said I can be quite cynical as this tweet about the Communist […]
Oh dear! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! One of the reasons I have always had time for Arseniy Yatseniuk, is that over the past decade he has very rarely entered into “personality politics” and remained firmly in the policy arena. He is after all, a natural born thinker and quite capable in the policy […]
When one considers the shear scale of reforms and improvements necessary for Ukraine to close the social, legal and democratic gaps with its neighbours, it is quite an awesome task for any leadership. That said, with regards to democracy, if Ukraine treads water long enough there is a real possibility that its neighbours will regress […]
Whether or not you agree with the changes to the electoral laws that passed through the RADA at the end of last year, you will recall that both the current ruling PoR party and the biggest opposition party, BYuT, voted for the changes. As I wrote at the time, it was the death of the […]