It All Went Splendidly for the President

The Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) announced on Friday that it has declared unconstitutional the 2004 constitutional reform, and brought back to life the 1996 version of the Fundamental Law. Now the Verkhovna Rada will have to bring all of the laws passed over the past five years into conformity with the "old" constitution. The CCU decision has given rise to quite a few questions, in particular, regarding the terms of office of the parliament and president. Speaker Vladimir Litvin is sure that the deputies will have to adopt changes to the transitional provisions of the constitution that will extend the authority of the current Rada for a year and a half, and of the head of state for eight months.