Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Presidential elections in Ukraine may be postponed to May 2010 from January 2010 because of the possible imposition of a state of emergency over the flu epidemic, said Ihor Popov, a deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential secretariat and a presidential representative at the Verkhovna Rada.

In an article headlined 'Elections Leading to Swinish Scenario' posted on the web publication Ukrainska Pravda on Friday, Popov, who earlier headed the Ukrainian Voters' Committee, writes that, if the government fails to cope with the epidemic, "the state of emergency issue will inevitably be brought up."

"Let's hope that the government will handle the epidemic without a state of emergency," Popov writes. "However, the epidemic has highlighted the issue of the candidates' equality and the voters' rights. Quarantine has been imposed on regions of one political color and has not been imposed on others. A ban on mass events has struck the opposition candidates worse, and there could be problems with the representation of candidates in the elections commissions and with a quorum in the commissions," he writes.