Incumbent has no muscle to declare state of emergency – experts say

November09200920:58

In case of any nationwide emergency or calamity, the government is typically in a favorable position in terms of boosting its approval ratings. On the other hand, if it fails to deal effectively with an emergency, the government is the looser, Serhij Taran of the Sotsiovymir think tank in Kyiv told ZIK Nov. 9.

He rules out the declaration of the state of emergency in Ukraine due to the flue epidemic, saying there is no balanced constitutional system in hand, no clear checks-and-balances and independent judiciary.

“The president needs at least a 20-percent popularity rating and backing from the Verkhovna Rada. Yushchenko does not have all this. Therefore, I doubt that he will declare an emergency,” the expert said.

Another political expert and first deputy secretary of the National Defense and Security Council, Dmytro Vydrin believes that, even if Yushchenko wanted to extend his rule for a couple of months, he has no mechanism to implement such scenario as he has no majority in Verkhovna Rada to rubberstamp his decision.

Vydrin said no session of the NSDC to address the state of emergency was planned for Monday, Nov. 9. The only issue on the agenda was the flue epidemic.

The initial decision to declare the emergency is with the cabinet and president while VR has the final say in estimating the degree of insecurity before it approves it by the vote.

Vydrin says the flue outbreak has strongly affected campaigning as rallies and mass meetings, the powerful campaigning tools, have been cancelled.

“It gives a leg up to those powerful parties and players with access to national TV channels. Meanwhile, fringe parties and minor candidates have no campaign cash to buy TV time which is said to stand at US375 per second. All this gives powerful players a boost,” Dmytro Vydrin said.

Comment by ZIK

Nov. 6, Yushchenko’s deputy chief of staff Ihor Popov predicted a NSDC session on Monday, Nov. 9, to address the declaration of the state of emergency. However, later Viktor Yushchenko dismissed this, saying there are no grounds for the emergency to be declared in Ukraine.

Comments

14:4411.11.09 dictator's dress code
- Yushchenko is looking more and more like a dictator dressed up in a military uniform.
14:4211.11.09 Ukraine without Yushchenko
- If this is the case why has he allowed his henchmen to continue to make statements that he will seek to prolong his term of office? It is prettY clear there is no discipline in the President's office and they all seem to act independently from the president. This does little to instill any confidence in Yushchenko's presidency and is a major factor in why his support rating in less then 3,5%.
  
  Yushchenko should have reined in his staff long ago,. Come February they will all be looking for a new job.