Parties led by Poroshenko and Klitschko to merge, report says

The Petro Poroshenko Bloc, led by the president, and the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform, led by Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, will announce at a congress on Aug. 27 that they are uniting into a single party under the name, “UDAR-Solidarity,” as reported by the pravda.com.ua news site, citing anonymous sources in the UDAR party. The congress will involve both parties, whose leaders signed a memorandum, and the new political force will be led by Klitschko, the report said.

Zenon Zawada: This merger represents two of the largest patronage parties combining their resources, with the Poroshenko Bloc enjoying patronage perks at the national level and UDAR controlling access to state resources in Kyiv. Yet the entire Ukrainian political establishment is hovering near bankruptcy with the public expressing little support for any party or politician. This political merger will have minimal impact on the big picture, that is to say Ukraine’s development, aside from the economy of scale gained from combining their patronage prowess. Unfortunately, Ukraine’s politicians don’t see the threat to statehood posed by their lack of a reforms strategy, their lack of willingness to overhaul corrupt institutions and their patchwork, selective efforts in combating corruption.