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Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych remains committed to the direct election of the head of state, first Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk (1991-1994) has said. 

“I currently don’t see such grounds [for the election of the president in parliament]. I directly talk to President Yanukovych, and I talk to him very often, and I did not hear him [offer the initiative of electing the president in parliament]. He would at least have told me frankly that he has the intention, if elected for a second term, to be elected in parliament,” Kravchuk told journalists in Kyiv on Tuesday.

In his opinion, Yanukovych said that “the people have elected, and should continue to elect, the president.”

Kravchuk is the head of the Constitutional Assembly, which is developing amendments to he Constitution of Ukraine.