You're reading: Omelchenko quits Yushchenko’s party in parliament

Kyiv's former mayor (1999-2006), Oleksandr Omelchenko, who has quit the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense (OU-PSD) faction in parliament, has said he intends to remain an independent deputy.

"I’m not going to join any other faction," he told reporters on Tuesday, adding that there are currently 22 independent deputies in parliament.

"By the way, I was an independent deputy for four years. I’m the only one voting with my own card, and I’m the only one not giving my card to anybody else. I even go to smoke with my card so that nobody presses the button instead of me," Omelchenko said.

He said that one of the reasons for his decision to quit the OU-PSD faction was faction leader Mykola Martynenko’s decision to join the Front for Change Party, which is led by Arseniy Yatseniuk.

Omelchenko said that despite joining the Front for Change Party, Martynenko retained his post as head of the OU-PSD faction.

"This organizational question is unclear to me," he said.

Omelchenko said that another reason for his decision to quit OU-PSD was his objection to the Our Ukraine Party leader Viktor Yuschenko.

"Most importantly, it’s the high immorality of the so-called honorary president, who, unfortunately, now heads the Our Ukraine Party," he said.

Omelchenko said that he was also dissatisfied with "uncertainty in the ranks of the OU-PSD faction, as MPs are constantly "migrating from group to group, from party to party." Читайте об этом на www.kyivpost.ua