THE NEW UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT HAS SIGNIFICANT LEFTIST CONTINGENT.

The newly elected Ukrainian parliament convened yesterday for its inaugural session. In an address to both parliament and the nation, President Leonid Kuchma appealed for prompt legislative action to reform the economy. Alluding to the relative success of leftist forces in the March 29 elections, Kuchma ruled out any “return to the past.” The eldest deputy, 78-year-old Yaroslava Stesko, who spent most of her life as a political exile in the West, was accorded the honor of speaking at the opening session, only to be heckled by the communist group, the single largest in the new parliament. The communist and socialist parties support the candidacy of communist leader Petro Simonenko for the post of chairman of parliament. (UNIAN, May 12)

EBRD MEETING IN KYIV PRODUCES STOPGAP MEASURES FOR CHORNOBYL.