You're reading: Symonenko: Government working on scenario to elect president in parliament

The current government is working hard to ensure that the president is elected by parliament in 2015, the leader of the Ukrainian Communist Party, Petro Symonenko, has said. 

“The first stage of political actions taken by major oligarchic capital to discredit parliament is currently ending,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday, March 21.

“This process is ending at a time when the second stage started, with the active discussion of the issue of holding a referendum, the goals and objectives of which are to introduce the majority system, reduce the number of MPs, introduce a bicameral parliament and adopt a new constitution,” he said.

“All this is being done to ensure, through voter fraud, the drafting of the legal framework for the final transformation of parliament into a puppet [body]. That is, it will lose its main purpose – to be a public tribune of the interests of people, and, through a new constitution and with the same powers, [they want] to elect the president in parliament in 2015,” Symonenko said.

“This task is currently being resolved, and we, the communists, are convinced of this,” Symonenko said.

The next presidential elections in Ukraine are to be held in 2015.