Even though he missed approval by only three votes the other day, President Yushchenko’s pick for prime minister, Yuriy Yekhanurov, was easily approved by the parliament. But you’ll never guess who gave him the necessary votes. Dan McMinn has the count.

Ä1Å Communist Party faction (0 out of 56 votes of MPs),
Ä2Å Regions of Ukraine (50 out of 50), People’s Party (45 out of 47),
Ä3Å Our Ukraine People’s Union (44 out of 45),
Ä4Å Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc – (7 out of 41),
Ä5Å Socialist Party (25 out of 25),
Ä6Å Ukrainian People’s Party (23 out of 23),
Ä7Å Forward Ukraine! Party (20 out of 20),
Ä8Å Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) (0 out of 20),
Ä9Å Unified Ukraine (3 out of 16), Reforms and Order party (7 out of 15),
Ä10Å Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (15 out of 15),
Ä11Å Narodnyi Rukh of Ukraine (15 out of 15),
Ä12Å People’s Democratic Party and Labor Ukraine Party (13 out of 13)
Ä13Å 22 non-partisan MPs out of 28.

The Regions party, led by Yushchenko’s arch-foe and election rival Viktor Yanukovych. They signed a deal beforehand, which promised “no politicial persecution, freedom of speech, political reform begins Jan. 1, 2006 (according to Ihor Shkir); no reprivatization, amnesty to those election commission workers accused of violations during the 2004 election, adoption of the law on opposition and the law on the president (according to Vitaly Khomutynnyk).” (Thanks, Neeka!)

This doesn’t bode too well for reforms in the country, as least not until parliamentary elections in the spring. But not much was happening anyway, as the pre-revolution make up of the Rada hasn’t allowed much to happen (take the stalled WTO reforms, for example). Yekhanurov’s appointment is basically to fill in the huge gap left by the firing of the government, so that the country can be managed and stabilized effectively until the spring. So we’ll have to sit tight until then, but as the other week demonstrated, anything can happen.

Still, necessary as his approval was, it was a pretty tacky move on Yushchenko’s part signing a pact with Yanukovych. Makes you want to throw up a bit, which I’m sure is the feeling a lot of Orange-backers have in their stomachs. The Kiev Ukraine New Blog has a roundup of lots of commentary with regards to the cooperation.

Many people are saying that the revolution has been betrayed. I don’t think so, not quite anyway. If the constitutional reforms go into effect, parliament will be able to start its dirty work toward a better future once the elections are over, irregardless of whoever Yushchenko is on speaking terms with at the moment. It’s not that the revolution was necessarily betrayed, it’s just that the revolution is over. In the best of circumstances, the revolutionary spirit should have lasted until the spring, because now there is just going to be a big lull in public confidence. But whatever deals are being made don’t matter too much. The real democratic revolution will be in a few months, when power transfers hands without the need for street protests.