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Updated: No grounds to postpone presidential election in Ukraine, Tymoshenko says
Nov 7, 2009 at 16:32"I want to emphasize once again that each region has its own epidemic threshold... Quarantine is imposed as soon as the disease rate in any region reaches its peak... So this is an objective approach that has no subjective element, and there are still no grounds to cancel the elections," she said in Uzhgorod on Saturday.
The secretariat of the Ukrainian president is already discussing the possible postponement of the presidential election date from January until May 2010 if a state of emergency is declared in the country due to the flu epidemic.
Ihor Popov, a deputy head of the presidential secretariat and a presidential representative at the Verkhovna Rada, said in an article headlined "Elections Leading to Swinish Scenario" posted on the Ukrayinska Pravda web publication on Friday 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 said.
"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 said.
"With more than two months before voting day, it is quite possible to overcome the first tide of the California flu and prevent further tides," Popov said.
"However, if the state of emergency is imposed, the elections will have to be postponed rather than suspended," he said.
"If the state of emergency is in force for two months, a new election date can be May 30, simultaneously with local elections, which, by the way, will save the state a billion hryvnias," he says.