Inside Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 16, 2004

Over 50 Rada members have already filed a motion with the Constitutional Court, asking sanction for the second vote, based on the contention that the first vote, held on a reform bill that had been amended by the addition of changes demanded by Socialist faction leader Oleksandr Moroz, was not valid because of those changes.

The court is believed ready to find in favor of the Rada group's petition, thus allowing a second vote to be held as early as next week.

However, it is unclear how the pro-reform forces will find the necessary votes for passage since any vote on the original form of the amendments is almost certain to be opposed by the 20 members of the Socialist faction.

Unless there were a very substantial shift in the opposition blocs of Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, which have proven quite solid so far, it is hard to see how an adequate number of votes could be rounded up to push the amendments past the 300 vote mark required.

Also, there is wide suspicion among Rada members that Yanukovych will not be all that active in lobbying support for the second vote since passage would seriously degrade the powers of the office that he seeks.

Although coming up with a consolidated candidate for president and agreeing reconsideration of the reform amendments was generally considered to be very serious business, there were some light moments. Serhy Tyhypko, National Bank head and chairman of the Labor Ukraine Party along with former Prime Minister Anatoly Kinakh, now head of the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, both withdrew their candidacies yesterday in favor of Yanukovych.

One Rada wag suggested that Tyhypko and Kinakh should both be considered for orders as official Dragonslayers of Ukraine, based on their demonstrated abilities in killing mythological beasts, i.e. their campaigns for president.