Poroshenko calls for wide coalition in forming renewed government

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called for five of the six parties elected to parliament to form the pro-European coalition, in a televised address to the nation on Nov 4. He also called for an entirely renewed Cabinet of Ministers based entirely on professionalism, though repeated his party’s support for Arseniy Yatsenyuk remaining as prime minister. The party drawing the most support in the elections, the Poroshenko Bloc, is responsible for leading the coalition’s formation, he said. He called for the invited parties to agree to a detailed coalition agreement as proposed by his party, and as is the practice in Europe. He said a three-page agreement proposed by the People’s Front party is inadequate.

Zenon Zawada: Poroshenko’s words confirm tensions with the People’s Front party led by Yatsenyuk and difficulty in forming a coalition with that political force. In stressing that the Poroshenko Bloc “earned significantly more than any other political force,” the president was insisting that it will be his party taking the lead in forming the coalition, not the People’s Front, which won the most votes in election list voting. (Half of the parliamentary seats were determined by winners of single-mandate districts, while the other half was determined by closed election list voting.) Based on the electoral system, despite the People’s Front having earned 22.1 percent compared to 21.8 percent for the Poroshenko Bloc in election list voting, the Poroshenko Bloc earned a total of 132 mandates compared to 82 for the People’s Front (when including the single mandate districts).

It was also revealing that Poroshenko called for a wide coalition, though his advisers said earlier that they weren’t interested. This indicates an option to dilute the influence of the People’s Front, in our view. It also can reflect a desire to keep his party’s options as wide open as possible in forming the coalition, which hasn’t happened in the short period that Poroshenko predicted.

Moreover, Poroshenko made a direct reference to the inadequacy of the People’s Front coalition proposal, further indicating difficulties between the two leading parties in reaching a coalition agreement. Although it’s possible that the president’s statements are mere bargaining tactics being employed in coalition-forming, we see a rivalry that has the potential to be counterproductive.