KIEV, August 28. /TASS/. The merger of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, the UDAR party and, possibly, the People’s Front will boost the responsibility of the political forces to the society for the critical state in the country and, as a result of that, will become a grave for these parties, Director of the Ukrainian Institute of Policy Analysis and Management Ruslan Bortnik told a news conference on Friday.
"This merger is a communal grave for the political forces," the expert said. He noted that he was "glad that such a merger had occurred." "Therefore, the responsibility will be raised, people will understand who is really responsible for the critical state in the economic, political and military spheres Ukraine is in now," Bortnik said.
Speaking about the purpose of the unification, he noted that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was thus trying "to save the current authorities from collapse." "The president’s approval rating is falling, and we are likely to have a new political opinion leader in the autumn, and that will be not the president," Bortnik said, adding that Yulia Tymoshenko could be such a leader. "With a view to saving the existing coalition structure, the president agreed to the merger," he added.
At the same time, according to Bortnik, in reality the current merger of the political forces was not the unification. "This is not the unification, this is actually the takeover, because only partners of equal strength may unite. The Petro Poroshenko Bloc will absorb its former partners, which were not so fortunate in the information war," he said.
Bortnik noted that another reason for the merger of the political forces was "the concentration of the administrative resources ahead of the local elections" scheduled for October 25, including for the formation of the territorial election commissions.
For his part, political analyst Mikhail Pavliv said the merger of the political parties in Ukraine was like "a tin of minced sprats." He believes that the united forces will mess up the local elections. "The result will be like this: there will be opponents in the regions who will put competitive pressure on this presidential and prime ministerial force," he said.
The delegates of the unification congress of the Pyotr Poroshenko Bloc — Solidarity party and the UDAR political party led by Vitaly Klitschko have unanimously voted on Friday for the merger of the two political forces. As part of the legal procedure Klitschko and 18 of his associates left the UDAR party to join the Pyotr Poroshenko Bloc.
Former leader of the UDAR party and Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko has taken the lead of the UDAR-Solidarity united party.