President offers advice to negotiators

Victor Yushchenko advises Our Ukraine, BYuT and the Socialists to consider results of the March 26 elections when discussing posts, according to the President’s press-office.

“This would be the best way to show they respect the will of the people, as well as the best principle to share posts in the government and parliament,” he told journalists after his meeting with Dutch Premier Jan Peter Balkenende in the Hague. “I think this principle has been disregarded.” 

The Head of State reiterated that he still had the right to appoint many officials. “During the negotiations, this fact was neglected, which also impeded the productivity of their dialogue,” he opined. 

Mr. Yushchenko, however, expressed hope these difficulties would not hamper the negotiations. He admitted that, at yesterday’s meeting with Yuriy Yekhanurov, Roman Bezsmertny, Yulia Tymoshenko and Oleksandr Moroz, they "managed to bridge many of the differences.” 

The President also added that he hoped the leaders of BYuT and SPU were determined to continue the dialogue. He promised to meet with them again as soon as he arrived back in Kyiv to publicly voice his position.