KIEV, November 8. /TASS/. Early parliamentary elections in Ukraine are not on the agenda, since they can only aggravate political confrontation and hamper the work of the authorities, Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) speaker Vladimir Groisman said on Sunday.
"I don’t think the issue of early elections to the Verkhovna Rada is on the current agenda," the parliamentary press service quoted him as saying. "Early elections may become another step towards aggravation and destabilization of the situation in the country."
Groisman said he was confident that despite the complicated relations between political factions within the parliamentary coalition, it was bound to continue its work. "The coalition has reserves to build good work," he stressed. However he admitted that the "process of inetration in the parliament is rather difficult."
"I think all now have possibilities to offer society a clear plan of actions for the next year and undertake responsibility within the current coalition and the current Verkhovna Rada," the speaker said.
Despite Groisman’s optimism, the Verkhovna Rada is facing difficulties in its work. Thus, Oleg Lyashko’s Radical Party quitted the parliamentary majority, saying it was going into opposition to the current authorities. Later, Yulia Timoshenko’s Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party said it would vote for no bills until gas tariffs were lowered, taxation of retirement benefits was cancelled and moratorium on land sale was extended.
Rhetoric of the Samopomoshch faction [the party’s leader is mayor of the west Ukrainian city of Lvov Andrei Sadovy] echoes opposition demands. "We have been considering this issue [of quitting the coalition], leader of the Samopomoshch faction Oleg Berezyuk said. In his words, his political force was "looking at changing over to the opposition." The Popular Front faction too may leave the coalition if the Rada initiates resignation of its leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk from the post of Ukraine’s Prime Minister.