Two Ukrainian parties leave parliamentary coalition

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko welcomed the departure of two parties from a parliamentary coalition on Thursday, July 24, opening the way for him to call a new election and give Ukrainians "a full reset" of power, Reuters reported.

Two Ukrainian parties said they had left the majority coalition in parliament to allow a new election and clear what one politician called "Moscow agents" from the chamber.

Politicians and activists have complained that while Ukraine has a new president, it has yet to elect a new parliament since the toppling of pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovich in February, and accuse his supporters of hampering its work.

"Society wants a full reset of state authorities," Poroshenko said in a statement, adding the move showed that those who decided to quit the coalition were following the will of the people.

Oleh Tyahnybok, leader of the nationalist Svoboda party, told parliament: "We believe that in the current situation, such a parliament which protects state criminals, Moscow agents, which refuses to strip immunity from those people who are working for the Kremlin, should not exist."

The Udar (Punch) party of former boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko - which along with Svoboda, the Batkivshchyna party and other deputies formed the majority coalition - also announced it was leaving the coalition.

According to the Ukrainian constitution, the parliament has 30 days to try to forge a new coalition. If that fails, the president then can dismiss parliament and call a new election.