Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Hanna Herman Party of Regions deputy head Hanna Herman said on Jan. 19 that presidential front-runner Victor Yanukovych will not take part in televised debates with his rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, before the second round of the presidential election on Feb. 7.

“There is nothing for Victor Fedorovych to talk about with Tymoshenko,” Herman told the Kyiv Post. Herman also disavowed party statements made before the first round of voting that Yanukovych would “definitely take part in TV debates with the candidate who will enter the second round.” http://www.partyofregions.org.ua/eng/pr-east-west/4b39c3e07fb04/

Deputy Prime Minister Hryhoriy Nemyrya, one of Tymoshenko's closest advisers, blasted Yanukovych's refusal to debate. "By not debating, Yanukovych shows his weakness and lack of European values," Nemyrya said a a news conference the same day. "There are no debates in countries that are authoritarian and where there is no free speech."

The refusal of Yanukovych to participate in a televised debate coincided with the publication of an open letter signed by the country’s leading political experts and sociologists for Yanukovych and Tymoshenko debate one another on television before the second round vote scheduled for Feb. 7.

A signatory of the appeal, Volodymyr Fesenko, chairman of the Penta Center for Applied
Political Studies, said Yanukovych’s refusal to debate Tymoshenko illustrated the “uncivilized and primitive” manner in which Yanukovych has chosen to conduct the remainder of the presidential campaign.