KIEV — Ukraine might delay its January presidential election until May if the government fails to control an outbreak of swine flu, said the deputy head of President Viktor Yushchenko’s secretariat.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, however, insisted that there would be no delays and the country would get a new president Jan. 17.
Yushchenko’s aide Ihor Popov, writing in an opinion piece published in Ukrainska Pravda on Friday, accused Tymoshenko’s government of being taken unawares by a flu epidemic and said a state of emergency could be called.
“We hope that the government is able to manage the epidemic without a state of emergency,” Popov wrote.
But he said measures already introduced such as a ban on public gatherings including political rallies raised questions about how fair an election would be. “With more than two months until the vote, it is completely possible to overcome the first wave of the flu and avoid another wave,” he wrote.
“But should there be a state of emergency, the election would have to be delayed,” he said, adding that May 30 would be an alternative date. The election is due to take place Jan. 17.
Any state of emergency and election dates should be approved by the parliament. But the constitution is not always absolutely clear on procedure, and politicians can go to the Constitutional Court, which can take weeks or months to review cases.
Popov said presidential hopefuls with government jobs could freely visit regions that are quarantined because of the flu, while opposition candidates cannot and “feel discriminated upon.”
Tymoshenko, visiting western Ukraine on Saturday to observe anti-flu measures there, said there was no reason to declare a state of emergency over swine flu. “The presidential election will not be canceled and will be held as scheduled. There is every chance that the election will be fair and honest and Ukraine will get a new president,” she said, Itar-Tass reported.
A total of 16 presidential candidates have been registered so far, election officials said. With public support at 5 percent or lower, Yushchenko is unlikely to win re-election. Tymoshenko and Viktor Yanukovych — a former prime minister who was also the main loser in the Orange Revolution — are both front-runners now.
Yushchenko last week called for the prosecutor general to investigate possible criminal negligence in the government’s handling of the flu epidemic, which has killed 109 people in recent weeks and infected more than 750,000.
Yushchenko said the other presidential candidates had organized huge political rallies despite knowing about the epidemic. The government introduced its measures just before Yushchenko was due to hold his own rally in Kiev.
Of all flu cases, 32 are confirmed to be swine flu, and three deaths have been registered from the virus. The World Health Organization has said it assumes most flu cases in Ukraine are caused by the swine flu strain.
(MT, Reuters, AP)