KIEV, May 06. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine needs its presidential election but Kiev authorities make every effort to undermine it, opposition Party of Regions deputy Nikolai Levchenko told a news briefing on Tuesday, saying candidates were being deprived of a chance "to convey their position to the voters openly and safely”.

“Ukraine needs the legitimately elected president. First of all for representing our country at international agencies and conducting negotiations with partners both in the East and in the West,” he said. “However, today the authorities have done everything to have this election disrupted,” Levchenko added.

“The main principle of European democracy has been defied as the candidates have no possibility of informing the voters about their position openly and safely," he went on.

"Renowned Party of Regions member Gennady Kernes (Mayor of Kharkiv) is in hospital with a chest wound, a deputy of the Odessa regional council from the Party of Regions was burned alive in the building (of Odessa’s Trade Unions House) together with other fellow party members”

"Presidential candidate Mykhailo Dobkin comes under constant attacks, including of a terrorist nature, when armed people break into sensitive sites and prevent him from even leaving a plane. This violates basic democratic principles in the state,” the deputy said. “All this makes the presidential campaign impossible.”

The presidential election in Ukraine is scheduled for May 25.