Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk's party has agreed with President Petro Poroshenko's faction and the Fatherland party - all former coalition partners - to form a new alliance, the head of Yatseniuk's People's Front party, said on Monday.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk chairs a government meeting
in Kiev, Ukraine, March 25, 2016. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
KIEV: Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk's party has
agreed with President Petro Poroshenko's faction and the Fatherland
party: all former coalition partners: to form a new alliance, the head
of Yatseniuk's People's Front party, said on Monday.
The deal could spell the end of months of political
infighting and corruption allegations that have stymied reforms demanded
by Kiev's Western backers and derailed negotiations for a new US$1.7
billion loan from the International Monetary Fund needed to prop up the
war-torn economy.
"Tomorrow at 1200 (1000 GMT) we will go to a general meeting
of the coalition," People's Front Maksym Burbak said after a meeting of
deputies with Poroshenko and Yatseniuk late on Monday.
Representatives of Poroshenko's faction and former Prime
Minster Yulia Tymoshenko's Fatherland party have not yet commented on
the results of the meeting.
Support for Yatseniuk has tumbled since he took power after
the 2013/2014 Maidan protests, but he has refused to step down until a
new coalition agreement is signed.
Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Groysman, a 38-year-old
former mayor and ally of Poroshenko, has been put forward as a
replacement prime minister. The formation of a coalition would improve
his chances of receiving parliamentary support for his nomination.
Two former coalition allies - the populist Radical party and
the reformist Self-Help party - have refused to rejoin the alliance.
(Reporting by Alexei Kalmykov and Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Susan Fenton)
- Reuters
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