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Ukraine’s Party of Regions candidate not to withdraw from presidential race

Mykhailo Dobkin says he does not want to give a pretext to announce Ukraine's presidential elections illegitimate

Mykhailo Dobkin ITAR-TASS/Maxim Nikitin

Mykhailo Dobkin

© ITAR-TASS/Maxim Nikitin

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KIEV, May 08. /ITAR-TASS/. Mykhailo Dobkin from the Party of Regions, who is running for Ukrainian president in the snap elections scheduled for May 25, said on Thursday he was not going to withdraw from the presidential race in order not to give a pretext to announce the elections illegitimate.

“Despite the fact that the elections are being held, to put it mildly, in very unusual conditions, despite the fact that presidential candidates do not enjoy equal conditions for pre-election campaigning, despite the fact that it is simply dangerous to go to certain regions, I and my colleagues in the Party of Regions took a decision not to withdraw from the election campaign and not to give a handle to announce these elections illegitimate,” Dobkin’s press service quoted him as saying at a meeting with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague.

“Today, along with really democratic political parties, undisguised neo-fascists have come to power in Ukraine,” Dobkin said. “Neither their actions nor their decisions promote consolidation in our society. On the contrary - they are dividing people on the grounds of geography and ethnicity," the presidential candidate added.

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