Finance Minister Jaresko may succeed Yatsenyuk as Ukraine PM — experts

World March 25, 2015, 12:41

President Petro Poroshenko is seeking to tighten control over the government

KIEV, March 25. /TASS/. The falling approval rating of Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and his People’s Front party, the absence of real reforms create conditions for reshuffling the Cabinet. One of the candidates for the position of Prime Minister may be incumbent Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, says the analytical bulletin of the International Center for Policy Studies "Inside Ukraine."

"Yatsenyuk’s blatantly militaristic rhetoric annoys not only the bulk of the political establishment, but also of the population. One of the central TV channels has launched an information campaign about the inability of today’s government to carry out reforms. A congress of the Radical Party led by Oleh Lyashko that has been held earlier this month ruled that, if the coalition agreement was not complied with, the party would withdraw from that coalition," the bulletin says.

President Petro Poroshenko is seeking to tighten control over the government. He doesn’t like fact that the Prime Minister concentrated in his hands control over the law enforcement agencies and access to finances and is trying to actively influence the country’s foreign policy. Under such conditions,  Natalie Jaresko is the best possible candidate to the position of Prime Minister for both the president and the West, which needs guarantees of transparency in use of IMF funds, Inside Ukraine analysts say.

According to the Razumkov center for Economic and Political Studies, only three political parties in Ukraine - the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Self-Help (Samopomich) party and the Opposition Bloc would be able to overcome the 5-percent barrier during the parliamentary elections, if they were to take place on Sunday. Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front, the Fatherland (Batkivchyna) party led by Yulia Tymoshenko and Oleh Lyashko’s Radical Party would fail to overcome the 5-percent barrier. During the elections to the Verkhovna Rada last year, the People’s Front received 22.14% of votes, Fatherland - 5.68% , and the Radical Party - 7.44%.

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