President Petro Poroshenko has called on the unpopular Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin to resign, saying it would be a way out of the ongoing political crisis.
In his statement published on the presidential website on Feb. 16, Poroshenko said he spoke earlier the day with Shokin and proposed that he write a statement on his resignation.
“The prosecutor general, unfortunately, wasn’t able to win the support of society. So now the issue of the resignation of the prosecutor general is on the agenda,” Poroshenko said. “The same approach should be also applied to the government.”
Shokin, who was Poroshenko’s nominee, has been continuously accused by critics of corruption and stalling reforms and criminal prosecutions of high-level suspects.
His deputy, Vitaliy Kasko, resigned on Feb. 15 at a press conference, accusing Shokin of sabotage in combating corruption.
Poroshenko can also fire Shokin on his own.
But it’s up to the parliament to announce a no-confidence to the prime minister and members of the Cabinet.
Poroshenko said the pro-government coalition may collapse over “tensions” between the government and the parliament factions. “Its (the coalition’s) collapse in turn will definitely plunge the country into a deep and continuous political crisis,” Poroshenko said.
Poroshenko said that the government should also leave because it has lost the support of society.
“According to the polls, over 70 percent voters support the resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers. You should agree that it is absolutely unacceptable to ignore this indicator,” Poroshenko said, adding that only a government with high public support could successfully conduct reforms.
“Now it’s obvious that we have a demand for a total reload of the government,” Poroshenko said.
Poroshenko called on all the parliament factions, especially Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front , to support the resignation of the Cabinet.
The lawmakers are now collecting signatures to force a vote of no-confidence in Yatsenyk’s government, which is due to deliver its annual report in the Rada today.
If the pro-government coalition disintegrates, Poroshenko could call early parliamentary elections.
Poroshenko said new elections wouldn’t be a good option for the country, which is struggling both against Russia’s war and deep economic crisis. “I’m sure the country has no time reserve to plunge for the fourth time in less than two years into an election campaign,” Poroshenko said. “The dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada is not the obligation, but only the right of the president. I will use it only in an extreme case, which we simply must not allow.”
