KHARKIV - Jailed former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko is satisfied with the way Batkivschyna United Opposition has carried through its parliamentary election campaign, one of the opposition alliance's leaders said on Thursday.
“We congratulated each other on the fact that the opposition has been able to stand its ground. Yulia Volodymyrivna is satisfied with the way the opposition has carried through this campaign, that we have carried it through in a coordinated way,” Arseniy Yatseniuk, head of the Batkivschyna United Opposition council, told reporters after he and two other opposition leaders met with Tymoshenko at the Kharkiv hospital where she is receiving treatment.
Subjects raised at the meeting included alleged vote rigging in some of the constituencies, Yatseniuk said.
“We discussed specific plans, how we should work in the new parliament, what decisions we should make and how we should fulfill what people expect us to do today,” he said.
Oleksandr Turchynov, who managed Batkivschyna United Opposition’s election campaign, said Tymoshenko refused to end the hunger strike that she began on Monday in protest against the alleged vote rigging.
“We definitely asked Yulia Volodymyrivna to stop fasting because her health is very important for the party, and, I believe, for Ukraine, for that matter. But she is definitely angered by the situation in many constituencies, by the brazen and cynical falsification of the results of the expression of will by our fellow citizens. A hunger strike is the only way she can counteract it. Therefore, we were, unfortunately, unable to persuade Yulia Volodymyrivna, and she will continue her hunger strike,” Turchynov said.
“She is in a militant mood. Just as ourselves, she is convinced that Ukrainian society has made an assessment of this government, and that this government has its days numbered,” he said.
Hryhoriy Nemyria, another Batkivschyna United Opposition leader, said Tymoshenko showed particular interest during the meeting in international observers’ conclusions about the elections.
“We gave her additional information about the conclusion that these elections unfortunately failed to meet basic democratic standards. We discussed consequences of that conclusion for the domestic policy of Ukraine and for Ukraine’s relations with the European Union,” he said.
