As Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych hosted an informal CIS summit on Saturday, his allies in the parliament failed in a first attempt to push through changes to the constitution that could significantly boost his political powers.
The parliament initiated a debate Friday on a proposal by Yanukovych's Party of the Regions that would allow for a referendum to decide whether curbs on presidential powers, agreed in 2004, should be lifted.
Political commentators said allies of Yanukovych, who was elected in February after a bitter political campaign against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, sought particularly to boost presidential authority over the government.
At the moment, the president can propose candidates only for foreign and defense ministers — and even they have to be accepted by the parliament.
If the curbs were lifted, commentators said Yanukovych would effectively rule in a presidential system similar to that of many other former Soviet states, including Russia, with the right to name government ministers.
But when the parliament met Saturday in a special session, several parties voiced opposition to agreeing on a referendum. They included the Communists and the Lytvyn bloc, which are part of the majority underpinning Yanukovych's government.
Further debate on the proposal was put off until September.
The present limits on presidential powers were imposed in 2004 when Viktor Yushchenko came to power after the Orange Revolution street demonstrations, and they partly contributed to his downfall.
Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other CIS leaders congratulated Yanukovych on his 60th birthday, which was Friday, during the CIS summit in Crimea.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili also offered his congratulations during talks with Yanukovych in Kiev on Friday. The talks, the first between the two leaders since Yanukovych's election, were "warm" and held at the Ukrainian's invitation, Saakashvili's office said.
(Reuters, MT)
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