- Title: UKRAINE: Ukrainian opposition signs a coalition agreement
- Date: 19th October 2012
- Summary: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WEARING BLUE VESTS WITH PARTY OF THE REGIONS SYMBOLS DURING RALLY MAN WAVING FLAG PEOPLE LEAVING RALLY PEDESTRIANS TRAFFIC ON STREET
- Embargoed: 3rd November 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA952G2ZCJ2BXKCOG4L0TIY3IA6
- Story Text: Ukrainian opposition signs a coalition agreement but fails to sign up boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko for election, while ruling Regions Party holds its big election rally in Kharkiv, a city where former PM Yulia Tymoshenko is jailed.
Ukraine's opposition suffered a setback on Friday (October 19) in their bid to weaken President Viktor Yanukovich's grip on power when boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko, a rising political star, refused to join an election coalition.
The opposition has been weakened by the jailing of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. But a surge in popularity for the UDAR (Punch) party of Klitschko - a strong critic of Yanukovich and his Party of the Regions - had raised the prospect of a combined opposition victory at the October 28 election.
But Arseny Yatsenyuk, a former economics and foreign minister who heads a union of opposition parties in the absence of Tymoshenko, said Klitschko had failed to sign a coalition agreement on Friday.
"Ahead of the elections, the all-Ukrainian Union Batkyvshchina (Fatherland) has united eight parties and thus we formed a powerful force which is able to win a victory against the (ruling) Party fo the Regions," Yatsenyuk told journalists after the signing. "It's regretful that Vitaly (Klitschko, world boxing champion) is not with us, but nevertheless I hope very that if not his whole faction but perhaps a part of it will join the democratic coalition in the future parliament," he added.
Many in the opposition had been looking to Klitschko to join forces with them to contest the Regions' grip on parliament.
But, while equally forthright in criticising the Yanukovich leadership and although he has ruled out any post-election deals with the Regions party, Klitschko has held back from throwing his hand in with Yatsenyuk's united opposition before the poll.
Apart from a post-election coalition, Yatsenyuk and other opposition leaders have proposed agreeing on a single opposition candidate to run against the Regions in individual constituencies to maximise the chances of victory.
Half of the 450 seats up for election are decided by party lists and half by individual constituencies. The Regions are widely perceived to have a decisive advantage in voting in the latter.
On Friday the Regions held a mass pre-election rally in Kharkiv with some Ukrainian pop-music performers singing for participants.
Ukrainian Prime Minister, head of the Party of the Regions Mykola Azarov.
"We should come to the polling stations, all of us should come and bring their friends, relatives and support our Party of the Regions. Why support it? Because we have achieved stability in the country, we have launched changes, modernisation of the country, in every city, in every settlement," Azarov said addressing the ralliers.
Yanukovich comes up for re-election as president in 2015 and his Regions and its allies are seeking to retain a majority in the 450-seat parliament to cement his leadership and the interests of industrialists and big business who finance him.
The opposition accuses the Yanukovich leadership of perpetuating cronyism and corruption in the interests of their big business paymasters, policies which it says are deterring foreign investment and holding back the former Soviet republic's integration into the European mainstream.
The last opinion polls published placed Klitschko's party in second place behind the Regions with the united opposition of Yatsenyuk in third. Ukrainian law bans any further publication of opinion polls findings before election day. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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