Ukrainian oppositional forces can boycott the new Parliament and put down their mandates

Ukrainian oppositional forces expressed their disagreement with the results of the recently held parliamentary elections and announced that they could probably put down their mandates and reset the party lists in attempt to boycott the new Parliament which was elected unfair and not democratically, claim the opposition.

The Batkivshchyna (Homeland) Party needs to hold the emergency meeting to negotiate the possibility of the reset of all the party lists and to refuse to work in such a Parliament to protests the way of conducting the elections and the current situation in the country, thinks Anatoly Gritsenko, one of the leaders of the United Opposition.

The MP’s press secretary reported that Mr. Gritsenko proposed Arseny Yatsenyuk, the leader of the United Opposition Homeland Party, to immediately hold the emergency congress and to reset the party lists and the lists of the majoritarian candidates. The opposition has to show that it won’t go to the Parliament under such conditions, or the oppositional forces will lose the trust of the people.

Mr. Gritsenko added that Mr. Yatsenyuk supported this proposal, some other representatives of the oppositional forces also agreed on it (for example, Aleksand Turchinov, head of the United Opposition’s headquarters etc.).

Anatoly Gritsenko, one of the leaders of the United
Opposition

Opposition also called to gather in front of the Central Electoral Commission building to protest the results of the elections which were help unfair and not transparent, and to protest the unconstitutional way of counting the results.

The press secretary of the oppositional UDAR Party headed by Vitaly Klitchko reported that the party is also studying the possibility of the reset of the party and majoritarian lists and to refuse to accept the results of these elections. Such a decision could be made during the party’s emergency congress.

“The parliament which is expected to work in Ukraine doesn’t represent Ukrainian society, its moods and demands. We were running for the seats in the Parliament to work for the better future of the country and we cannot accept the situation when the Parliament is turned to the decorative authority of the ruling Party of Regions”, said the official statement of the UDAR Party.

Arseny Yatsenyuk, head of the United Opposition
Homeland Party

Another oppositional power, ultra-right nationalist  Svoboda (Freedom) Party, which has got the unprecedented number of the votes and high support of the citizens, also announced it is ready to reset the party and majoritarian lists and to boycott such a Parliament. The representatives of the party also said their power is ready to unite with other oppositional forces if such a proposal will be received.

Head of the Freedom Party Press Secretary Yury Syrotyuk stated: “The Freedom Party is a firm, strong and radical power, and not only on the words, but in its actions also. We are ready to take any actions including the aforementioned reset of the lists and boycotting the Parliament”.

The lawyers of the Freedom party have already started to study the possible judicial consequences of such a decision.

Vitaly Klitchko, head of the
UDAR Party

If such a decision will be made, together with other oppositional forces, Freedom party will be the first one who will comply this decision, stressed Mr. Syrotyuk. The question is only about the readiness of the united opposition for such a move. Freedom Party is a united force, with its own program and ideology, while the United Opposition includes a few different oppositional parties. This move should be only coordinated to avoid the situation when some of the candidates will put down their mandates, but some other MPs will continue to work, added Mr. Syrotyuk.

According to the official statement of the Freedom Party they have cooperated with the Homeland Party and UDAR to organize the meeting in front of the CEC in Kyiv on Monday, 5 November 2012.  In addition to that Freedom Party stated it is ready to run in the next parliamentary elections if such a decision will be made.

We would remind, that 99,90% of the protocols of the counted voices have been already processed. According to those results the currently ruling Party of Regions received 30,01% of the votes, the oppositional Homeland Party received 25,52%, UDAR 13,95%, Communist Party of Ukraine 13,18% and the Freedom Party 10,44%.

Oleg Tyagnybok, leader of Ukrainian nationalist
Freedom Party

But on the current stage there are still the ongoing battles at some of the local district electoral commissions where the results of the parliamentary elections are reportedly faked-up.

The parliamentary elections have been held in Ukraine on Sunday, 28 October 2012. According to the Central Electoral Commission’s statements the final results of the polls are expected to be declared not earlier than 10-12 November.