KIEV, February 24. /ITAR-TASS/. The Ukrainian parliament on Monday, February 24, authorized the disbursement of 1.96 billion hryvnia ($218 million) for early presidential elections to be held on May 25.
The decision was passed by 352 votes with the required 226 votes.
Yevgeny Geller, chair of the budget committee, said the funding would be secured by redistributing other expenditures.
The presidential election campaign will start in Ukraine on February 25, the Central Election Commission said.
“The election campaign starts automatically based on the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada [parliament] on the appointment of early elections of the president of Ukraine on May 25. At a meeting on Monday, the Central Election Commission will not make a statement on the start of the election campaign,” the Commission said.
According to preliminary estimates, the early presidential elections will cost 1.9 billion hryvnia (over $200 million).
On February 22, the parliament adopted a resolution stating that President Viktor Yanukovych had given up his constitutional duties and appointing early presidential elections for May 25, 2014.
It is not known who exactly will run for presidency in the upcoming elections, but former Prime Minister and Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party leader Yulia Timoshenko said she would not.
“Someone has circulated a statement alleging that Yulia Vladimirovna [Tymoshenko] said she would run for presidency. This is not true. No such statement was made,” mass media quoted her lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko as saying.