Kuchma: another President-for-life i/t former Soviet Union?

Ukraine: King Kuchma

Andrew Yurkovsky
World Press Review senior editor

President for life? If Leonid Kuchma continues to have his way, the law will prove no obstacle to his wildest political ambition. On Dec. 24, Ukraine’s parliament, known as the Verkhovna Rada, approved a constitutional amendment allowing for election of the president by the legislature rather than by a direct vote of the people. Days later, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled that Kuchma could stand for a third term since term limits were imposed in the constitution only after his first election in 1994.