Comments on the January 3 vote in the Verkhovna Rada by the socialists for the removal of certain provisions from the draft law on amendments to the Constitution were expressed by the head of the Volyn branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Oleksandr Stirko. \nIn particular, he believes that if we speak about the socialists having supported the political reform project on condition that Article 103, which provided for the election of the president by parliament, was removed, then one can say that Oleksandr Moroz is simply seeking to implement his long-standing idea of transforming Ukraine from a presidential-parliamentary into a parliamentary-presidential republic. \nAccording to Oleksandr Stirko, the only problem is that in the current situation Oleksandr Moroz has effectively played into the hands of the majority and, possibly, precisely because of this, during the first vote on political reform Oleksandr Moroz was not in Kyiv but in Truskavets. The head of the Volyn CVU also suggests that in this way Moroz left more room for maneuver. \nOn the eve of the vote, in the newspaper Ukraina moloda, one of the leaders of the socialist party, Yuriy Lutsenko, said that the Socialist Party of Ukraine would not support the political reform project under any circumstances. But, as we can see, the situation has now changed and this has effectively given rise to mistrust among the opposition trio - Our Ukraine, the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc and the Socialist Party, - believes Oleksandr Stirko. \nAccording to Oleksandr Stirko, it can now be predicted that the Socialist Party will have its own internal split, because not everyone unanimously supports the ideas introduced in the draft amendments to the Constitution. Therefore, in his opinion, one can say that first there will be, if not an internal struggle within the party, then a clarification of positions. And then, Oleksandr Stirko does not rule out that individual members of the SPU, representatives of the most radically minded wing, which seeks to maintain good relations with the Our Ukraine bloc and to preserve some, even if illusory, opposition majority, will block the work of parliament or will not participate in voting for political reform. \nIf we take the long-term perspective of this vote, the head of the Volyn CVU believes that in this case the very possibility of nominating a single candidate from the opposition forces is put at risk, because there will no longer be that trust among the opposition forces and, accordingly, the socialists will work somewhere for themselves, and in the end they support the majority bloc, whether they want to or not. Of course, this idea of transforming Ukraine into a parliamentary-presidential republic belongs to Oleksandr Moroz, but this idea could cost the opposition dearly, believes Oleksandr Stirko. \nOleksandr Stirko also does not rule out the possibility of Oleksandr Moroz running in the presidential elections. He explains this by the fact that part of the socialist party sees Oleksandr Moroz as president. \nIn that situation, flirting by Bankova with the Socialist Party and stimulating the idea of nominating Moroz as a presidential candidate is possible. Everyone understands perfectly well that Moroz will not gather the necessary votes, but in this situation he will pull votes away from Yushchenko, pull away votes of the protest electorate, he will pull votes away from Symonenko. Moroz will gather some portion of the votes and this will allow, during the implementation of the presidential campaign, to reduce the number of votes that Yushchenko or Tymoshenko will receive. I can expect the use of a conscious or unconscious Moroz for his participation in these presidential elections, - said Oleksandr Stirko. \nAssessing the actions of the opposition in parliament, the head of the Volyn CVU believes that this is the right of the opposition forces to defend their position, because any political force in modern conditions, having the highest rating and the highest trust among voters, is unlikely to agree that the powers of a possible future president be curtailed and balanced in such a way that the president would not have real levers of influence on the situation in the country. \nI can understand the actions of the opposition forces, primarily Our Ukraine. Probably the issue is that Our Ukraine spoke about the need for political reform, but it did not work actively on implementing political reform, it ended up behind. \nWhen last year Leonid Kuchma voiced his proposals on political reform, it was already an initiative intercepted by the authorities and the authorities actively engaged all possible means to present their version of constitutional reform. And Our Ukraine viewed political reform as one of the authorities' PR moves to reduce the activity and influence of the opposition. And, in fact, because the socio-political situation in the country was underestimated. As a result, we got the situation where the opposition forces did not lead this process but walked in the convoy, they did not submit their proposals for consideration, did not propose their own project, but criticized what had already been submitted, - said Oleksandr Stirko. \n \n \nRead also: \n \nYushchenko is also to blame for Moroz's support of the Medvedchuk-Symonenko draft law — head of the Lutsk city organization of the Batkivshchyna party Oleksandr Viktorov \n \nThe SPU adhered to its position, so there can be no talk of any betrayal — first secretary of the Volyn regional committee of the SPU \n\nThe SPU's vote on January 3 is a clear reflection of their adherence to their proclaimed goals — VOO Trudova Ukraina \n\nThe January 3 vote on amendments to the Constitution could lead to an internal split in the SPU — head of the Volyn CVU \n\nThe introduction of amendments to the draft law on amendments to the Constitution by Medvedchuk-Symonenko is illegitimate, believes people's deputy Volodymyr Bondar