“Малоросійська комедія чи драма?”: до питання участі В’ячеслава Чорновола у президентській кампанії 1991 р.

Abstract

The main thesis of this article is that the human rights activist and dissident Vyacheslav Chornovil, during the presidential campaign of 1991, was the most serious rival for any pro-governmental candidate and, under certain political circumstances, could fight for the highest public office in Ukraine. Chornovil, one of the leaders of the Ukrainian national liberation movement of the 1960–1980s, was a supporter of the democratic political reforms in Ukraine. This long-standing political prisoner of the Soviet regime had always supported peaceful resistance to the communist system and called on the public to adhere to parliamentary methods of struggle to achieve some political goals. The introduction of the position of the President in the Ukrainian SSR was supported by both the communist government and the democratic opposition. Each of these parties had their political plans after gaining the victory - communists hoped that the president would establish a strong authoritarian bureaucratic system. Anti-communists believed that democratic presidential election would eliminate the Communist Party from the government and provide real sovereignty of the republic. V. Chornovil belonged to those opposition leaders who supported changes in the political system, since the oppositional president had to carry out democratic reforms in the republic. V. Chornovil was nominated for the office of the President by many political parties and organizations, in particular, the most influential political force in the republic - Narodniy Rukh (the People’s Movement of Ukraine). However, at the beginning of the presidential campaign began an uncontrolled registration of candidates from democratic forces. Participation in the elections of 5 different candidates from the opposition made a very small chance for democratic forces to win. V. Chornovil pointed out the necessity of nominating a single candidate from the opposition and creating a single opposition electoral headquarters. The opposition forces failed to implement the plan offered by V. Chornovil, as political contradictions and personal ambitions remarkably violated the unity of the opposition forces at the beginning of the presidential campaign. The programs of democratic candidates during the elections were similar and only schematically offered ways of solving social problems. In his program, V. Chornovil supported the state independence of Ukraine, stood for professional parliament and strong presidential power, development of the economy according to market principles, and defended the basic rights of Ukrainian citizens. Such important issues that worried Ukrainian society as the status of the Russian language, lustration of former communists, signing of the Union Treaty and the future relations with former Soviet republics, Chornovil tried to solve from democratic positions, preserving the sovereignty of Ukraine. Lack of the single candidate from the democratic camp, reluctance of the opposition to coordinate their actions during the elections, violations during voting prosess caused the victory of the progovernmental candidate Leonid Kravchuk. Tactical mistakes of the opposition during the election campaign led not only to the defeat of its most rated candidate – Vyacheslav Chornovil but also caused the beginning of a deep split in the democratic movement, which was failed to overcome over the next decade.