You're reading: Batkivschyna, Svoboda hope UDAR will join their coalition

The Batkivschyna United Opposition and the Svoboda Party hope that the UDAR Party will join a coalition of democratic forces. 

“Of course, we sent letters both officially and unofficially. We made addresses publicly and not publicly. And it’s sad that [UDAR Party leader] Vitali [Klitschko] is not with us. But I sincerely hope that if not the whole, then a part, of his faction will join the democratic coalition,” the head of the council of the Batkivschyna United Opposition, Arseniy Yatseniuk, said at a press conference after the signing of an agreement on the creation of a coalition of democratic forces.

He said that the unification of a part of the UDAR Party faction in the new parliament with the democratic coalition implies that Batkivschyna and UDAR took a decision on mutual support for candidates in single-member constituencies and that the candidates whom Batkivschyna supported should share the principles upheld by this political party.

“That is why today we started the process of signing similar agreements with candidates running in single-member constituencies across Ukraine, so that the Ukrainians know what these candidates for MP will do if they become MPs,” Yatseniuk said.

First Deputy Head of the Batkivshchyna Party Oleksandr Turchynov, in turn, noted that the opposition expected the UDAR Party to sign the coalition agreement.

“I want to draw your attention to the fact that we now expect the whole faction of Vitali Klitschko UDAR, rather than its part, as a component of the coalition of democratic forces,” he said.