Fellow Ukrainians!
Local elections held on Sunday have completed the
restart of the government initiated last year. First of all, I would like to
thank everyone for coming to the polling stations and demonstrating concern for
the future of the country.
Although, amendments to the Constitution
regarding decentralization have been adopted only in the first reading, we have
broadened financial opportunities of local self-government approximately by 40%
through amendments to the Budget and Tax Codes. That is why you have chosen not
simply “assessors”, but full-fledged representatives that gained real
opportunities to solve local problems and responsibility.
The election campaign was characterized by a
high level of competition, great number of participants and active campaigning.
Certain election commissions, unfortunately, dared
violate the law or demonstrated insufficient professionalism. In such
exceptional cases, as guarantor of the Constitution, rights and freedoms of
citizens, I had to influence the situation, whether it was Mariupol or
Pavlohrad.
Certainly, there was still an acute problem of
vote-buying by individual candidates, but this time law enforcement bodies
provided active reaction to that.
In general, violations were mostly of technical,
organizational and procedural nature. According to non-governmental monitoring
organizations and a great number of foreign observers, these violations did not
influence the results.
Representatives of authoritative international
organizations, which have been specially invited to get independent and
objective evaluation of the quality of local elections, described them as
positive. According to the envoys of the OSCE, Council of Europe, European
Parliament, European countries, the elections were free and fair, and met the
international standards and European political culture.
These elections have brought us closer to Europe
and demonstrated the irreversibility of changes in the country, maturity of
society and proper attitude of authorities to democratic procedures.
The number of political parties that will be
represented in local councils is much greater than the number of parties
represented in the Parliament. More than 20 participants crossed the five
percent barrier.
However, the most important thing is that the
revenge of anti-Ukrainian forces has not taken place. And it is due to your
wisdom, dear Ukrainians!
Political forces of the ruling coalition have
gained a decent result. Overall support for pro-European and pro-Ukrainian
forces is much bigger than that of the party originating from Yanukovych’s
Party of Regions.
In the nearest time, I expect local councils of
all levels to form pro-Ukrainian majority capable of adopting efficient
decisions and solving problems of local communities.
Emotions in the parliamentary coalition should
also fade out promptly. Competition of its members in the local elections has
become a real challenge for the coalition.
I call on everyone to bury the hatchet, smoke
the pipe of peace and make up for the lag in the pace of reforms.
On the next plenary week, the Parliament should
adopt a series of draft law required for the fulfillment of technical
conditions by Ukraine for establishing the visa-free regime with the European
Union.
Immediately after announcement of election
results, I expect proposals from the parliamentary factions regarding the new
composition of the Central Election Commission. It is the issue of our agenda.
Once again, I urge all the parties to refrain
from crossing the red lines in political competition. Otherwise, the political
struggle may become extremely tense and reduce country’s capabilities of
confronting external threats.
Fellow Ukrainians!
It is important that the vote took place in the
territory of Donbas controlled by Ukraine.
It is the first time when Donetsk and Luhansk
regions elected local authorities on a relatively competitive basis. This has
never happened there before.
The monopoly of famous political force, which
has been forming there for ages, has been ruined for the first time.
Pro-European parties will be represented in the
councils of Donetsk and Luhansk regions for the first time. Even more so, they
are obliged to coordinate efforts on the control over the activities of local
majority.
Dear Ukrainians!
Those who think they are still in 2004 are
wrong. The country has changed and Donbas has changed. It is no longer one’s
patrimony. Unfortunately, because of the irresponsibility of a well-known
political force, elections in Mariupol were disrupted.
I expect the Parliament to make respective
amendments to the law in order to ensure immediate elections in Mariupol.
Fellow Ukrainians!
The elections are held in conditions of severe
social crisis. Kremlin military aggression against Ukraine and economic war, in
which Russia has almost completely closed market for Ukrainian goods, dealt a
powerful blow at the economy and living standards of Ukrainians.
I would like to express gratitude to those who
objectively looked at this issue, who appreciated our efforts aimed to
establish a truce at the front and macro-financial stability in the rear.
My political party confirmed the status of a
national party that unites the country. Not for nothing is it called
"Solidarity". As of today, the party gained the first place in the
elections in Kyiv and 14 regional councils from 23 regions where elections were
held; in seven regions, the party was the second to reach the finish line. In
addition, "Solidarity" will be represented in all district councils
of Donbas controlled by Ukraine.
This result is not a reason to celebrate. It
implies increased responsibility of the party and me personally. The government
in general and I personally are making adequate and self-critical conclusions
from the results of the elections.
We see that people demand serious work on
mistakes and acceleration of reforms.
And we will act in accordance with this
guideline.
Glory to Ukraine!
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