Ousted leader and his clique to be purged from Ukraine's Party of Regions as it tries to rehabilitate itself ahead of May elections
Mr Yanukovych was ousted in February after more than two months of huge anti-government demonstrations Photo: AP
Ukraine's disgraced former president will be kicked out of his own party this
weekend as it attempts a radical overhaul to repair the damage done by his "catastrophic"
rule, a senior party figure has said.
Borys Kolesnikov, the deputy head of the Party of Regions, said that Viktor
Yanukovych and his inner clique would be formally purged at a conference on
Saturday, where the party will debate how to mend its reputation ahead of
new elections scheduled for May.
The move demonstrates how the party has sought to distance itself as much as possible from its former leader, who fled to neighbouring Russia last month. He is wanted by the new government on charges of mass murder after allegedly ordering police to open fire on opposition protesters in Kiev, killing more than 100 people.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Mr Kolesnikov said that as well as purging the Yanukovych clique from the party's ranks, the party would also be re-organised to ensure that no leader would ever again be able to monopolise power in the way he had done.
"Yanukovych and his team will be excluded from the party, they will not
be members any more," Mr
Kolesnikov said. "It was a great mistake that he concentrated the power in his hands, and unfortunately it led to catastrophe."
Kolesnikov said. "It was a great mistake that he concentrated the power in his hands, and unfortunately it led to catastrophe."
A multi-millionaire businessman and admirer of Margaret Thatcher, Mr
Kolesnikov said that the party would remodel itself along the lines of both
the Republican Party in American and the Conservative Party in Britain in
its bid to reform, ending the corrupt and murky practices it had had under
Mr Yanukovych.
Like the Republican Party, it would have primary elections to decide which candidates wanted to run as presidential candidates. "We think that a real competitive atmosphere will make it new and strong," he said.
And like David Cameron's government in Britain, he added, it would become far more transparent when it came to policies and performance.
"In Britain everything is very clear, you will see, for example, Mr Cameron say how the economy is doing, giving proper statistics and explaining the context," he said. "We need the same model in Ukraine."
Mr Yanukovych was ousted in February after more than two months of huge anti-government demonstrations, sparked by his decision to cancel a proposed trade association agreement with the
European Union in favour of one with Russia. The revolution against him set in motion the chain of events that led to Russia annexing Crimea earlier this month, and which have left Ukrainians now fearful of further land grabs by Moscow.
Mr Kolesnikov, 51, who also served as a deputy prime minister, acknowledged that recent events had damaged the reputation of the party, which critics say is behoven to the Kremlin's interests.
However, he declined to condemn Mr Putin's annexation of Crimea, and said the party would not be severing its relationship with Moscow. "We won't break relations with Russia just to improve our reputation," he said.
Saturday's meeting is likely to be a crunch one for the party, debating not just the future strategy but also who will run as potential candidates for president. When The Telegraph interviewed Mr Kolesnikov at a parliamentary committee building on Wednesday, he was in back-to-back strategy meetings both with party officials and the powerful industrialists who help to bankroll it. The party's rivals in the presidential race are expected to include pro-European candidates such as Yulia Tymoshenko and Vitali Klitschko, the boxer-turned-politician who was a central figure in the recent protests.
The party faces an uphill struggle to win back Ukrainians' confidence in May's presidential elections, which will take place against a backdrop of near-bankruptcy, political chaos, and the loss of sovereign territory in Crimea. But Mr Kolesnikov insisted it had a fighting chance, pointing out that after being ousted from power by the pro-Western Orange revolution in 2004, it had fought its way back to power against the party led by Julia Tymoshenko.
"It was like Fulham beating Barcelona 5-0," he said.
Original post found here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10727181/Former-Ukrainian-president-Viktor-Yanukovych-kicked-out-of-party.html
Like the Republican Party, it would have primary elections to decide which candidates wanted to run as presidential candidates. "We think that a real competitive atmosphere will make it new and strong," he said.
And like David Cameron's government in Britain, he added, it would become far more transparent when it came to policies and performance.
"In Britain everything is very clear, you will see, for example, Mr Cameron say how the economy is doing, giving proper statistics and explaining the context," he said. "We need the same model in Ukraine."
Mr Yanukovych was ousted in February after more than two months of huge anti-government demonstrations, sparked by his decision to cancel a proposed trade association agreement with the
European Union in favour of one with Russia. The revolution against him set in motion the chain of events that led to Russia annexing Crimea earlier this month, and which have left Ukrainians now fearful of further land grabs by Moscow.
Mr Kolesnikov, 51, who also served as a deputy prime minister, acknowledged that recent events had damaged the reputation of the party, which critics say is behoven to the Kremlin's interests.
However, he declined to condemn Mr Putin's annexation of Crimea, and said the party would not be severing its relationship with Moscow. "We won't break relations with Russia just to improve our reputation," he said.
Saturday's meeting is likely to be a crunch one for the party, debating not just the future strategy but also who will run as potential candidates for president. When The Telegraph interviewed Mr Kolesnikov at a parliamentary committee building on Wednesday, he was in back-to-back strategy meetings both with party officials and the powerful industrialists who help to bankroll it. The party's rivals in the presidential race are expected to include pro-European candidates such as Yulia Tymoshenko and Vitali Klitschko, the boxer-turned-politician who was a central figure in the recent protests.
The party faces an uphill struggle to win back Ukrainians' confidence in May's presidential elections, which will take place against a backdrop of near-bankruptcy, political chaos, and the loss of sovereign territory in Crimea. But Mr Kolesnikov insisted it had a fighting chance, pointing out that after being ousted from power by the pro-Western Orange revolution in 2004, it had fought its way back to power against the party led by Julia Tymoshenko.
"It was like Fulham beating Barcelona 5-0," he said.
Original post found here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10727181/Former-Ukrainian-president-Viktor-Yanukovych-kicked-out-of-party.html
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