KIEV, October 25. /TASS/. Ukraine is holding local elections crucial for President Pyotr Poroshenko to eliminate society’s exceptional political fragmentation while experts consider this super-task to be unrealistic.
"I have managed together with my team to create a pro-Ukrainian coalition in the world: first a European, then a trans-Atlantic and now a global coalition. Now our common task is to create a pro-Ukrainian coalition inside Ukraine, which would not try to distract attention with some trifles but would implement a program of reforms that are written down in a coalition agreement," the Ukrainian president said.
However, data of the Ukrainian social research group Rating suggest that "a coalition of views" is still a long way off.
Forecasts show that Ukraine’s main political parties will gain the greater part of electors’ votes at the local elections. Samopomoshch (Self-Reliance) party led by Lvov Mayor Andrei Sadovoi is expected to get about 30% of the votes while the ruling Pyotr Poroshenko Bloc called Solidarnost (Solidarity) led by Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko and controlled by President Poroshenko is likely to gain 25%
Batkivshchina (Homeland) Party led by ex-Prime Minister and opportunistic leader Yulia Tymoshenko, which seeks an alliance with oligarchs Sergei Lyovochkin and Rinat Akhmetov, is predicted to win 23% of the electors’ votes at the local elections. The forecasts also show that the Opposition Bloc led by ex-Energy Minister Yuri Boiko is likely to gain 15% of the votes.
Also, more than 10% of electors may vote for UKROP party led by businessman Gennady Korban and controlled by oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, the Radical Party led by ex-presidential candidate Oleg Lyashko and controlled by oligarch Lyovochkin, the Svoboda (Freedom) nationalist party of radical politician Oleg Tyagnibok supported by oligarchs Kolomoisky and Viktor Baloga, and Nash krai (Our Homeland) party led by regional politician Anton Kisse and controlled by Kolomoisky.
There are no right-wing parties among opinion poll leaders. As Director of the Institute of Policy Analysis and Management Ruslan Bortnik told TASS, "people have grown tired of this political circle and critically view all political projects. People have grown tired of the social and political crisis, patriotic rhetoric and hysteria instigation."
"And those who continue talking to this end today, using such terms as enemies and treason, all these forces are now losing public support and will continue their downward [rating] movement until they fall to 3-5%," the political scientist said.
The Pyotr Poroshenko Bloc Solidarity took over the UDAR (Blow) party of Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko ahead of the election campaign and its candidate lists will also include candidates from the People’s Front party of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk who has refused to participate in the elections due to the low rating.
The notorious oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, the organizer of the UKROP party, has become Poroshenko’s main open rival in the elections. Kolomoisky’s party is positioning itself as "a party of war." UKROP has pledged to set up a contract army instead of compulsory mobilization and stands for continuing the armed conflict in the Donbass region "to the victorious end" and has set on a collision course with Poroshenko: "The Oligarch has vowed to sell his business but has not done so to this day. Poroshenko is expanding his business while people are getting poorer," the expert said.