Tymoshenko guarantees to support PM candidate, MP Leshchenko says

Yulia Tymoshenko, the former prime minister and head of the populist Fatherland parliamentary faction, has signed a guarantee with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to support either candidate for prime minister being considered by the parliamentary coalition, MP Serhiy Leshchenko told the pravda.com.ua news site in a report published on March 24. These candidates are Parliamentary Head Volodymyr Hroisman, a close ally to the president, and Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, a Harvard-educated financier who is backed by the West.

“Tymoshenko is trying to find a point of reconciliation with the West, which has warned many times about the need to preserve political stability in Ukraine,” Leshchenko said. “I think Tymoshenko easily offered such guarantees, being certain that an government isn’t for long and everything will lead to early elections.”

Poroshenko said on March 23 he expects the council of faction heads from the last coalition will submit to him a PM candidate this week and for parliament to vote on Tuesday, March 29.

Zenon Zawada: Leshchenko’s report is realistic in the sense that Tymoshenko would be offering support for a prime minister and not agreeing to form a new coalition government, which would be ridiculous after she led her faction to abandon it in mid-February. The president now seems to have a parliamentary majority to select the new PM and Cabinet, which does not necessarily depend on which of the six factions will form the new coalition.

In the constantly changing landscape, the most likely scenario at this point is Hroisman becoming prime minister simply because the oligarchy is interested in maintaining the status quo. Tymoshenko seems to be hoping that her support for Hroisman will be overlooked by the public, which will be looking for an alternative to Poroshenko and his crew by the time the next elections roll around.

Meanwhile, the most likely scenario for the coalition is the Poroshenko Bloc, the People’s Front led by Yatsenyuk and Oleh Liashko’s Radical Party. Liashko’s party is still technically a coalition member after its MPs neglected to sign statements leaving the coalition when Liashko made the threat in early September. So the likely scenario is that Liashko will be given government posts in exchange for remaining in the coalition and endorsing it publicly.

The report that Yatsenyuk would announce his resignation on Wednesday proved false. Many smokescreens are being created regarding the selection of the new PM and formation of the parliamentary coalition. Before becoming an MP, Leshchenko was among Ukraine’s top journalists. Yet we recommend treating this latest rumor with caution as well.