You're reading: Ukraine opposition fails to sign up Klitschko for election

Ukraine's opposition suffered a setback on Friday in their bid to weaken President Viktor Yanukovich's grip on power when boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko, a rising political star, refused to join an election coalition. 

The opposition has been weakened by the jailing of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. But a surge in popularity for the UDAR (Punch) party of Klitschko – a strong critic of Yanukovich and his Party of the Regions – had raised the prospect of a combined opposition victory at the Oct. 28 election.

But Arseny Yatsenyuk, a former economics and foreign minister who heads a union of opposition parties in the absence of Tymoshenko, said Klitschko had failed to sign a coalition agreement on Friday.

“We did our utmost … to produce a united, powerful and strong democratic coalition in the new parliament. He (Klitschko) refused. It is up to him,” Yatsenyuk said in an interview with Reuters.

“Today we signed an agreement for a coalition with nine parties. We asked a 10th party, but that seat is empty,” he said.

Yanukovich comes up for re-election as president in 2015 and his Regions and its allies are seeking to retain a majority in the 450-seat parliament to cement his leadership and the interests of industrialists and big business who finance him.

The opposition accuses the Yanukovich leadership of perpetuating cronyism and corruption in the interests of their big business paymasters, policies which it says are deterring foreign investment and holding back the former Soviet republic’s integration into the European mainstream.

Many in the opposition had been looking to Klitschko to join forces with them to contest the Regions’ grip on parliament.

But, while equally forthright in criticising the Yanukovich leadership and although he has ruled out any post-election deals with the Regions party, Klitschko has held back from throwing his hand in with Yatsenyuk’s united opposition before the poll.

VIDEO SURVEILLANCE

Meanwhile, in an accusation likely to heighten indignation among her followers, Tymoshenko complained of intrusive surveillance by cameras in the hospital where she is being treated for back trouble.

Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year jail sentence for alleged abuse-of-office when she was prime minister, a case condemned by the West which sees her as a victim of political vengeance.

In a statement on her party’s website, she accused Yanukovich, her political nemesis, of having a prurient interest in looking at video recordings of her movements during medical examinations and daily toilet routines.

The presidential administration had no immediate comment on Tymoshenko’s accusations when approached by Reuters. A statement by the prison service, however, said her quarters in the clinic were not under video surveillance.

Tymoshenko, who has been receiving hospital treatment for back trouble, asked to be returned to prison in the city of Kharkiv even though she said her course of treatment was not complete.

REGIONS ADVANTAGE

In a statement issued by his press service, Klitschko, the WBC world heavyweight champion, explained why he had snubbed the offer to join other opposition groups.

“We respect the suggestion of our opposition partners but we consider that victory at the elections and the defence of the results of the vote, and not the signing of statements, declarations and agreements are the main task for the opposition in the coming days,” he said.

Apart from a post-election coalition, Yatsenyuk and other opposition leaders have proposed agreeing on a single opposition candidate to run against the Regions in individual constituencies to maximise the chances of victory.

Half of the 450 seats up for election are decided by party lists and half by individual constituencies. The Regions are widely perceived to have a decisive advantage in voting in the latter.

The last opinion polls published placed Klitschko’s party in second place behind the Regions with the united opposition of Yatsenyuk in third. Ukrainian law bans any further publication of opinion polls findings before election day.

Yatsenyuk, in the interview, did not completely rule out the prospects of a future deal with Klitschko though he appeared sceptical.

“Ukrainian politics have many peculiarities and one of them is that if you don’t get an agreement before an election you will not get it afterwards,” he said.