Yushchenko Loses Control Over His Faction to Tymoshenko
January 16, 2009 – 8:09 amMykola Martynenko was elected to head the Our Ukraine-Peoples Self Defence (OU-PSD) faction. His deputies are: Oleksandr Tretiakov, Ruslan Kniazevych, Taras Stetskiv, and Borys Tarasiuk. All 5 are members of the new enlarged orange coalition of BYuT, OU-PSD and the Voodymyr Lytvyn bloc.
The new leadership of OU-PSD means the president has lost control completely over his faction. Martynenko said on January 16 that the ‘faction would no longer be the property of the president’. ‘The decisions of the faction would be decided directly by deputies’, Marynenko said, a clear reference to past attempts by the presidential secretariat to dictate how the OU-PSD votes and operates.
More deputies are now likely to move over to OU-PSD from the 30 deputies outside the coalition of whom are 20 are possible additional members. Viktor Baloga’s United Centre party, which is opposed to the new coalition, controls only 10 of OU-PSD’s 72 deputies.
Martynenko and Tretiakov, are businessmen who were once very loyal to Yushchenko and funded Our Ukraine from its launch as Yushchenko’s party in 2001. The defection of OU-PSD businessmen to the pro-Tymoshenko orange coalition also reflects how small Yushchenko’s support base has dwindled to.