The project for the coalition agreement has already been prepared, says the President’s Administration. Deputy Head of the Office of the Head of State Dmytro Shymkiv stated that two-thirds of the document are reform plans. According to Shymkiv, the project retains the opportunity for agreements between the potential members of the coalition. “In order to prepare the components of any agreement, a document has to be created, which may include options for various issues, and the members of the coalition discuss those options. This is the document which will be created,” he reported.
On Sunday evening after the first exit poll data were published, Petro Poroshenko stated that his block would be “the basis of the parliamentary coalition,” and expressed the hope that People’s Front would participate in the coalition as well. At the same time, as of Tuesday evening, according to the CEC, the leader in the in multi-mandate district, with however small of a difference, is People’s Front.
Arseniy Yatseniuk’s party already views itself as the basis for the formation of the coalition and, according to party member, Minister for Justice Pavlo Petrenko, they are not against cooperating with all democratic parties which surpassed the minimum barrier.
Everyone except the former regionals is ready to unite
Out of the six political parties which will form the new Verkhovna Rada, only the Oppositional Block stated that even if they were invited to the coalition, the would not enter it. “We do not plan on entering the coalition with current pro-government parties, as we do not see any will on part of these political unions to build the country based on the principles we promised to our voters,” emphasized leader of the Oppositional Block Yury Boyko.
Batkivshchina and the Radical Party are ready to get involved in coalition agreements under certain conditions. At the same time the biggest mystery is the future of Samopomich, the triumphant party at these elections. Earlier, the President discussed coalition prospects with leader of People’s Front Arseniy Yatseniuk and Samopomich leader Andriy Sadovy. The latter, however, stated on Tuesday, that his political union “has not been part of any formal meetings in regard to the coalition as of the moment,” and emphasized that the decision regarding involvement in the parliamentary majority will be approved by the entire faction.
International Center for Prospective Studies expert Valentyn Krasnoperov thinks that to work for its political future, Samopomich could remain an associative ally of the parliamentary majority of sorts without joining it formally. “Samopomich, as a new party, attracting civil activists and many other good people, could occupy the niche of a quality opponent to the government. Not an enemy, an opponent. And receive big prospects in the future,” says the political expert.
No time to lose
Both Petro Poroshenko’s Block and People’s Front have expressed hopes to form the coalition as soon as possible. According to the Constitution, the process may last a month starting the first day of work for the new Parliament. However, according to Razumkov Center expert Viktor Zamyatin, under current political condition, they have to make an agreement faster.
“They should act very swiftly and very efficiently. We have very bad experience of coalition formation in 2006, 2007, the example of power wars between the President and Prime Minister. Now all sides have to agree, find compromise,” he thinks.
According to early calculations, Petro Poroshenko’s Block and People’s Front, together with their majority member, will get about 200 parliamentary seats, so together they cannot form the majority, which requires 226 members of the Parliament. Meanwhile, besides other political parties, the new Parliament may also include about a hundred self-nominated members.
