Yushchenko to make Kostenko head of NUNS faction - Volodymyr Tsybulko

Yushchenko became head of Our Ukraine to use it as a base for a large party on the back of which Yushchenko will ride again into the highest office, political expert V. Tsybulko told ZIK Dec. 1. <P>One of NUNS bloc campaign promises, the expert reminds, was to merge into a single party. Now, Our Ukraine’s (NUNS chief party) dwindling rating is due not so much to the ongoing bickering in parliament as to the failure to merge NUNS parties. The incumbent, therefore, decided to put a stop to the fall of OU. </P>
<P>Tsybulko, who is said to be close to Yushchenko and Baloha, predicts that, following a reshuffle of the rightist parties, a new party based on OU will emerge. As a result, several parties, already off the ground, like Yedyny Tsentr, will have no option but to join the president’s new party, the expert said. </P>
<P>In Tsybulko’s opinion, such rightist parties as Ukrainian People’s party, Yedyny Tsentr, Sobor will join the new party. As to the People’s Movement of Ukraine, it will either split up into pro and anti-presidential wings, or will merge with the new president’s party. </P>
<P>The expert assumes that Vyacheslav Kyrylenko will remain chair of NUNS faction at the initial stage. Given the readiness by other NUNS member parties to unite, Kyrylenko can be replaced by Kostenko – as a show of compromise in a bid to create a single party. </P>
<P>Now that Yushchenko is head of Our Ukraine, he will dictate his terms to NUNS, Tsybulko says. Yushchenko can reach out to any member, even drop anyone from the faction list, he added. </P></FONT>