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announced at a June 10 party congress its Top Five candidates for its closed party list. It will be led by Tymoshenko, Donbas industrial owner Serhiy Taruta, former Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Head Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, longtime member of Parliament Serhiy Sobolev, and women’s advocate and public relations expert Olena Kondratiuk. Tymoshenko told the congress she is willing to form a parliamentary coalition with The People’s Servant and won’t be in opposition to it, striking a position contrary to the European Solidarity party led by former President Poroshenko. She has also indicated her intention to serve as prime minister. The Fatherland party has declared its support for Euro-Atlantic integration, but has opposed IMF cooperation, especially proposals to bring household natural gas prices to market levels and launch a farmland market.
The European Solidarity party held a party congress on June 9 at which it revealed its Top Ten candidates on its closed party list. It is led by former President Petro Poroshenko, Parliamentary Speaker Andriy Parubiy, Parliamentary First Deputy Speaker Iryna Herashchenko, 81st Airmobile Brigade Commander Mykhaylo Zabrotskiy, singer Sofiya Fedyna, Presidential Ombudsman for Crimean Tatar Affairs Mustafa Dzhemilev, Medical Battalion Commander Yana Zinkevych, former Lviv Regional Administration Head Oleh Sytniuk, Crimean Tatar Mejlis Deputy Chairman Ahtem Ciygoz, and Deputy PM for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze. The European Solidarity favours Euro-Atlantic integration and close IMF cooperation.
The Voice (Holos) party founded by Western-educated rock star Sviatoslav Vakarchuk held a party congress on June 8 at which it revealed its Top Ten candidates on its closed party list. It is led by Vakarchuk, former Economic Development and Trade Minister Yulia Klymenko, IT executive Kira Rudyk, PM adviser Yaroslav Zhelezniak, Anti- Corruption Action Centre Board Member Oleksandra Ustinova, Kyiv City Council Member Oleh Makarov, Transparency International Ukraine Executive Director Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, journalist Serhiy Rakhmanin, Odesa Regional Administration former acting head Solomiya Bobrovska, and former Deputy Health Minister Olha Stefanyshyna. The Voice party favours Euro-Atlantic integration, as well as close cooperation with the IMF and the Open Society Foundations founded by George Soros.
The Pechersk District Court in Kyiv ruled that ex-Georigan president and former governor of Odesa Mikheil Saakashvili can stand for election in the upcoming general election, the court said on June 20. Under Ukrainian law a citizen must having been living in Ukraine for the last five years if they want to run for office, and Saakashvili has only been in Ukraine and a citizen for four.
Pro-Russian parties reveal leading candidate for elections. Ukraine’s leading pro-Russian party, the Opposition Platform For Life, confirmed at its June 6 congress that it will compete for parliament without its rival, the Opposition Bloc, a Russian-oriented project sponsored bybnaire Rinat Akhmetov. The Opposition Platform presented its Top Ten closed list of candidates for parliament, led by former Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko, Kyiv media mogul Vadim Rabinovich, Putin confidante Viktor Medvedchuk, Luhansk entrepreneur Natalia Korolevska, Yanukovych Presidential Administration Head Serhiy Lyovochkin, longtime Medvedchuk associate and lawyer Vasyl Nimchenko, longtime Medvedchuk associate and MP Nestor Shufrych, Yanukovych Presidential Administration First Deputy Head Serhiy Larin,
17 UKRAINE Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com