President dissolves Parliament; early elections appointed for October 26

UKRAINE - In Brief 26 Aug 2014 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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Yesterday late at night President Petro Poroshenko dissolved the parliament. New elections have been appointed for October 26. The decision was in line with legislation since a month ago ruling parliament coalition stopped its activity. This step was widely expected in society since many MPs from the Party of Region continue supporting separatists in different ways being under protection of MPs immunity. According to Poroshenko the current parliament will continue its work and ratification of EU association agreement is among the main tasks of the parliament before October voting. Unfortunately, we do not have clear vision what might be the face of new parliament since political preferences of Ukrainians have been pretty much reshuffled and are still changing in light of all the events the country is experiencing. Some surveys have been talking about incredible support to radical parties few months ago. However, on the voting day Ukrainians used to vote for some traditional political brands and for more temperate political forces. Interesting, that October 26 could now be seen as a kind of deadline for military actions. Though separatists control very modest territory, millions of Ukrainians in Donetsk and Luhansk will not be able to vote if anti-terrorist operation delayed. Nevertheless, we do not expect the authorities to push forward for faster victory at the price of more casualties. Even if some territories are still under control on the date of voting new parliament will be valid anyway while MPs from Donetsk and Luhansk will be elected later when the war ends.