Ukrainians Vote For A Change In 2010 – A Change In Leadership, Vision And Unity

UKRAINE CRISIS AND THE ROLE OF THE 2010 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

On January 17th in 2010 the Ukrainians have a chance to vote for a change in political leadership. This vote will maybe be more important than the votes casted in previous presidential elections. Recession combined with a
Ukraine needs a change in political leadership as the present leadership consisting of the president and prime minister does not work as smooth as it should.
Ukraine present political crisis is a struggle between two heads of power and Ukraine's future as a European Parliamentary Democracy.

SELECTING THE RIGHT UKRAINE PRESIDENT

A poll conducted by Razumkov Center from February 2th until March 5th 2009 revealed six potential presidential alternatives amongst the population, these were;

Viktor Yanukovych,
Yulia Tymoshenko,
Arseniy Yatseniuk,
Volodymyr Lytvyn,
Petro Symonenko, and
Viktor Yuschenko

Amongst these candidates there is only one real choice for a visionary leadership which will contribute to form the independent strong Ukraine which gives the population hopes for the future.
This candidate is the 34 year old economist and lawyer Arseniy Yatseniuk.
He is the candidate which has risen fastest in popularity in the last few months and gains terrain towards his opponents for every day towards the presidential election in January 2010.


THE NEXT UKRAINIAN LEADER – ARSENIY YATSENIUK?

Why do we make this statement at this stage, and how can we judge this person based on his merits so far in Ukrainian politics and life in general?
First of all, he is the person that can build a new sense of national unity that will bring relatively scandal free politics forward and represent the next generation of a new post-partisan Ukrainian leadership.
He represents the transformational figure which emerges in the Ukrainian political landscape that captures the imagination and majority of Ukrainian voters towards the January 2010 national elections.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk is the one leader who is uniquely positioned to save Ukraine from itself. His meteoric rise is altering the political terrain of the upcoming elections in Ukraine.
If Yatsenyuk enters the race, his road to the presidency will be a challenging one, but also a campaign that can spur optimism in Ukraine and bring hope back to the distressed population.

THE INTERNATIONAL UKRAINE

Ukraine’s next president will inherit a spiraling economic crisis still searching for the bottoming out point. The country has the 4th highest debt level on the planet, industrial output plummeting with more than 30 percent last year, inflation at over 20 percent and its national currency devalued more than 40% towards the US Dollar. The economic circumstances in Ukraine are challenging by all means and the recent gas crisis with Russia just added to Ukraine’s problems domestic as well as towards European Union and Russia.
Ukraine and its relation to IMF got strained when the release of the second tranche of Ukraine’s $16.4 billion package to re-capitalize the banking sector and service its external debt was delayed due to the lack of complying with IMF requirements of presenting a balanced 2009 budget. Later IMF has relaxed its requirements somewhat, however, this demonstrate how the president, prime minister and chairman of Verkhovna Rada can not work together towards a common goal – saving Ukraine.
Ukraine is not ready for rapid inclusion into the European Union or NATO, nor is NATO ready to receive Ukraine. Even the relationship between Russia and Kiev has teething problems Ukrainian and Russian leaders publicly criticize each other for the whole world to observe.


POLITICAL LANDSCAPE TODAY

Yushenko and Tymochenko have demonstrated lack of coherent leadership and ability to present a common political platform. They have therefore as I see it, disqualified themselves as candidates to be the needed future visionary political presidential leader of Ukraine.
The apparent lack of proper political craftsmanship in the formation of the Orange Coalition between Yushenko and Tymoshenko has lead to disagreement on virtually everything since they took the power in 2004.

OPPORTUNITY AND CAPABILITY

A candidate for presidency in 2010 needs the trust by vast numbers of Ukrainians and which is not seen as part of the problem and not fatigued by a constant fighting within the political leader collegium’s of the President, Prime Minister and the chairman of Verkhovna Rada. The candidate must muster enough parliamentary seats and nationwide support to forge an effective coalition government and lead a genuine reform movement.
Yanukovych is facing a backlash in his party and polls for fumbling the last attempt to depose Timoshenko from the prime ministers office.
Against the backdrop of Ukraine’s crumbling economy and gross malfeasance in leadership, Arseniy Yatsenyuk has a tremendous opening to break out as a uniting force to save Ukraine’s flagging ship of state.
The political fighting between Yushenko, Yanukovych and Tymoshenko demonstrate the inability of proper visionary political leadership on the cost of retaining personal powers.
Ukraine is sinking and Yatsenyuk’s poll numbers and popularity are rising.
As a former banker, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Speaker of the parliament, the 34 year-old Yatsenyuk is experienced and respected in Ukraine’s political arena. He is young, relatively scandal free and has the best chance to represent the next generation of a new post-partisan Ukrainian leadership.

YATSENYUK REPRESENTS THE CHANGE NEEDED IN UKRAINIAN POLITICS

Yatsenyuk will represent the sober visionary leader who can impart a new sense of realism that implores Ukraine to clean up its own financial house.
He has charisma enough to inspire Ukrainians to take their destiny in their own hands and not look to Europe or Russia for salvation or blame them when things go wrong.
He will have to challenge the reign in Ukraine’s oligarchs who have ravaged the country in the same way that Russia’s oligarchs did during the transition from state ownership to free enterprise. This question is maybe the most uncertain at this stage.
Yatsenyuk has the ability to craft a sensible forward-leaning Ukrainian energy policy that modernizes its infrastructure and restores its credibility in Europe.
Yatsenyuk will enable the articulation of a vision that bridges the cultural and religious divide between Ukraine and Russian nationals.
He has demonstrated the capability to lead a parliament to get things done with, and will therefore be able to govern a parliament with a significant numbers of members from the Tymoshenko Bloc and the Regions Party on his side.
The Ukrainian people are in a desperate search for new leadership as his political rival’s incessant infighting makes him a more attractive alternative.

POLITICAL STRATEGY – CHANGE UKRAINE THROUGH ITS CITIZENS

Yatsenyuk needs to communicate a clear and compelling vision of a new Ukraine, and a new theory of nation-building that departs with the failed attempts of the past.
Yatsenyuk has to find alliances that will assist him in rise funding for his campaign for his newly formed party called Change Front Citizens Initiative. He might find these amongst the millionaires in Ukraine, who previously supported the Orange Revolution coalition and has not seen the effect promised by these.
Yatsenyuk’s new party has to be organized properly both centrally and regionally and he has to form a program for Ukraine’s resurrection.
His political strategy has to be innovative, and to be the consensus in the Ukrainian population as well as within the political circles. His party must present solutions that not only split the political difference between the major parties, but being radical pragmatists proposing solutions that benefit all Ukrainians struggling under severe economic conditions. He cannot allow his party becomes a soft centrist alternative which tries to be all things to all Ukrainians.

PATH TO A VICTORIOUS CHANGE IN UKRAINE

Yatsenyuk is seen as a political threat to established politicians like Yanukovych, and Tymoshenko, that both have started attacking Yatsenyuk instead of ignoring him. This will provide an excellent development that provides him greater opportunities to highlight policy differences and new reforms, rather than engaging in personal smears. Yatsenyuk can and will have to be tough in taking on his detractors; he cannot be equally as dirty.
A change in tacticts from his political opponents in the effort to liquidate a political competitor, the Presidential Secretariat offered Arseniy Yatsenyuk to lead the National Bank. As a response to this he stated; "I have ambitions as a politician – I want to change entire country and I do not want to change the National Bank".
Yatsenyuk’s new organization the Change Front Citizens Initiative must build its own independent base of disaffected citizens and Ukraine’s youth that are anchored to his core vision. He need to position his campaign early and break off sections of Ukraine’s other major and minor parties on principle and policy to forge a winning coalition as the January 17 elections draw near.
Yatsenyuk’s path to victory will be the end of the political rancor between the Region's Party and the Tymoshenko Bloc, and build a new sense of national unity.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk represents the change that the new Ukraine believes in.