Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s
party has begun luring independent lawmakers to form a new ruling
coalition and end the nation’s worst political crisis in two years.
Iryna Suslova, formerly of the
Samopomich party, joined Poroshenko’s party Wednesday, parliament’s first deputy
speaker, Andriy Parubiy, said in the capital, Kiev. Talks are being
conducted with “at least seven more lawmakers,” Mustafa Nayem, a member of the
president’s party, said on Twitter. Poroshenko has 138 deputies in the 450-seat
legislature, while Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has 81. They’ve so far
been unable to ally with a third party to form a majority.
“The scenario is being implemented: to
add independent lawmakers to Bloc Petro Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk’s party
so the two have 226 seats,” Serhiy Leshchenko, a lawmaker from the president’s
parliamentary group, said on Facebook.
Two years on from a street uprising that
ousted its Kremlin-backed leader, Ukraine has become gridlocked by infighting
over stalled reforms and anti-corruption plans. The stalemate is holding up
billions of dollars of financial aid and eroding support for the
post-revolution officials. Poroshenko has said a government revamp is the
solution, proposing ally Volodymyr Hroisman, currently parliament speaker,
as prime minister.
Tymoshenko’s Demands
Hroisman is struggling to assemble a
majority as parties bicker over his candidacy, posts and policies. While he’s
said a new coalition may be formed from the parties of Poroshenko, Yatsenyuk
and ex-Premier Yulia Tymoshenko, the latter is making demands that go against
measures contained in Ukraine’s $17.5 billion bailout.
Yatsenyuk told a government meeting in
Kiev Wednesday that he’s “ready for any political decision in order to form a
coalition, a new cabinet and appoint a new prime minister.” A resolution is
needed for the sake of stability, investment and cooperation with the
International Monetary Fund, he said.
The political tumult, set to drag on
with Poroshenko away on an official visit to Washington, has dented
Ukrainian assets. The hryvnia has lost 8.3 percent against the dollar this
year, while the yield on government debt due 2019 jumped to as high as 12.149
percent in January, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
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