Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko offered three blocks of issues to political forces in the country

Thursday, May 19, 2022

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Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko offered three blocks of issues to political forces in the country, the resolution of which will lead to a compromise, National Security and Defence Council Chairman Vitaly Gaiduk said. In his words, the first set of issues requires the recognition of the fact that the parliamentary coalition was created in an unconstitutional manner. The second set calls for decisions that will rule out such situations in the future. And the third set concerns the implementation of these decisions. According to Gaiduk, if such agreements are reached, the president may change the date of elections. “But today a presidential decree is in force, and early elections must be held,” he said. Earlier, the presidential secretariat denied media reports and rumours circulating among parliamentarians that Yushchenko is preparing a decree delaying early parliamentary elections from May 27 to October. “No such decree is being prepared or even considered,” deputy head of the presidential secretariat Igor Pukshin said. Some deputies had claimed that an agreement had been reached between Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich to delay the elections. Deputy Nikolai Onishchuk told Itar-Tass that “this is best solution in this situation”. Yushchenko said the timing for the elections could be “set up through negotiations”. However Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich believes that parliamentary and presidential elections should be held simultaneously. Yanukovich addressed a crowd of about 50,000 of his supporters who oppose President Viktor Yushchenko’s decree on the dissolution of the parliament. “If early elections are held, they should be parliamentary and presidential at the same time, and they should be held within the framework of Ukrainian laws,” Yanukovich said. In his view, “The president cannot be the president of several regions of Ukraine.” He said “ways of resolving the crisis” had been offered to Yushchenko. “We presented a package of proposals and we are waiting for a reply. There is still time, and we can sit down at the negotiating table and find a dignified way out of this crisis,” the prime minister said, adding “We have such a chance”. Communist Party leader Pyotr Simonenko said the supporters of ruling coalition should do their utmost to “cleanse Ukraine” of “the orange plague”. “We must not allow the president to implement his plan of dividing Ukraine into east and west and we must not allow NATO expansion,” Simonenko said.

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