Yatsenyuk is trying to get Poroshenko’s consent regarding his post as premier prior to the parliamentary elections

The president is willing to hold talks, but he is not promising anything

Photo: Konstantin Melnitskiy

Premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk proposed to President Petro Poroshenko to jointly form a parliamentary coalition prior to the parliamentary elections. According to information that Capital possesses, Yatsenyuk’s desire is to reach an agreement with the head of state in order to preserve his seat as premier. The unpredictable results of Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front party are forcing the premier to become more active.

A premature appeal

“We are running in two parties, but we profess one course. There must be unity. I believe that we should form a coalition with the president for the elections. We should have a pro-European coalition – a coalition of reforms and changes,” said Yatsenyuk in a talk show on Friday. He is number one on the list of the newly formed party People’s Front party.

Press Secretary of the Premier Olha Lappo responded to a question posed by Capital on the course of talks with Poroshenko that “so far there is nothing to add to what the premier stated”, while a member of the political council of the People’s Front party Viktoria Syumar commented that the announcement of Yatsenyuk confirms his readiness to hold talks regarding the formation of a coalition. However, she said the format of the parliamentary union will only be discussed after the elections.

People’s deputy Volodymyr Kurenniy (UDAR), who made it to the pre-election list of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc (PPB), told Capital that Yatsenyuk’s appeal to unite is “worth discussing”, albeit it being premature.

“The Petro Poroshenko Bloc declares the need to unite all democratic forces, but this should wait until after the results of voting. How can parties form anything if they cannot say which of them will win seats in the parliament and with what results?” Kurenniy told the publication.

However, a source of Capital in the inner circle of the premier informed that “informal talks are already under way”. “The public statements of Yatsenyuk are an attempt to convince Poroshenko to form of the coalition. First and foremost, this is about a joint formation of the government,” the source said.

Risky barrier

People’s deputy Andriy Pavlosvskiy (Batkivshchyna) says Yatsenyuk’s appeal is an attempt to hold on to his seat as premier. “Yatsenyuk is proposing a union with his own future in mind. He has an illusion that he can convince Poroshenko to agree to his candidacy for the post of premier,” Pavlovskiy told Capital. A people’s deputy of UDAR, who is a member of the electoral headquarters of the PPB confirmed this version for Capital on condition of anonymity. The People’s Front headed by Yatsenyuk is not able to hurdle the threshold at the moment. The presence of the party in new parliament is questionable. His proposal of forming a coalition is a request to the president to throw him a lifesaver,” the deputy said.

He added, seeing the risks of the campaign under his name Yatsenyuk is persistently proposing to Poroshenko to hold talks. “Yatsenyuk understands perfectly well that at the moment he can try to bargain and cut a deal. But after the elections he may not be among potential negotiators,” an interlocutor with Capital noted, assuring that even if the president agrees to hold talks with Yatsenyuk, he will not make concessions and will not support him for the post of premier after the elections.

“Yatsenyuk had a chance to remain the head of the Cabinet of Ministers had he made it onto the list of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc,” the source told the publication. However, the premier has lost this opportunity. In fact, a replacement has already been found for him. “As far as I know, the president does not see Yatsenyuk as the premier, but instead his minion and current Vice Premier Volodymyr Groisman,” said Pavlovskiy. In his opinion, with Groisman in the seat of the premier the president will be able to control the government.

As source of Capital in the inner circle of the president noted, Yatsenyuk is only prepared to discuss with Poroshenko his political future. “There is not talk about Turchynov! There is an impression that he totally withdrew from the People’s Front affairs,” the interlocutor told Capital. However, Syumar said that Turchynov remains the head of the election headquarters of the party, though she does not know about his participation in talks with the president.

As a reminder, Yatsenyuk and Turchynov together with a group of deputies from Batkivshchyna decided to run in the parliamentary elections separately from their political force. The reason for this was the desire to form a union with Poroshenko’s party and the issue of Yatsenyuk’s first spot on the electoral list of Batkivshchyna. According to Capital, Yatsenyuk and Turchynov attempted to preserve their current posts after reaching an agreement with the president. However, in the end the alliance of the group of the premier and the VR speaker never came to fruition and instead they formed the People’s Front party together with their allies.

According to the latest public opinion poll, the People’s Front is supported by 3.9% of respondents, while 5.8% of the surveyed are prepared to vote for the political force of Yatsenyuk and Turchynov.