Ukraine opposition launches national civic movement to remove president

Ukraine’s opposition announced on Dec. 22 the launch of a civic organization, Maidan, which is intended to unite all of Ukraine’s civic organizations and political parties opposed to the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych into a national movement dedicated to removing him from office. In addition, Maidan is supposed to unite citizens supporting Euro-integration, an amended Constitution, and reforms to the judiciary, state prosecution and police, said Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the parliamentary faction leader of Fatherland, the largest opposition party.

Zenon Zawada: More than four weeks after the launch of the EuroMaidan protests, Independence Square and the Kyiv City Council remain under opposition control. Yet the movement has lost its momentum with it supporters not seeing any tangible goal that it could achieve before the March 2015 presidential elections. In theory, a national movement is the ideal vehicle to mobilize opposition to the Yanukovych administration, but it faces some hurdles in practice. Among them is the current divide between the opposition parties, which only exacerbates the antipathy with which Ukrainians regard them. Moreover, if the parties will be the main financer of the movement, it will likely be bending it to meet its aims, rather than vice versa. The movement’s success will depend on the level that non-politically affiliated citizens get involved and whether the opposition parties will allow them to take a leadership role, both locally and nationally.