You're reading: Poll shows nearly half of Ukrainians want early parliamentary elections

Nearly half of Ukrainians are in favor of holding early parliamentary elections, as is seen from a public opinion poll of 2,018 respondents conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Razumkov Center sociological service on June 9-13, which results were presented in Kyiv on July 27.

The poll showed that 48 percent of the respondents support the idea of early elections to the Verkhovna Rada, 35.4 percent are against it, and 16.7 percent are undecided.

In December 2016, the idea of early parliamentary elections was favored by 46 percent, while 36.6 percent were against it and 17.5 percent were undecided. In August 2016, the results were 35.4 percent, 45.3 percent, and 19.3 percent respectively.

If parliamentary elections were held on July 30, the Batkivschyna party would be the favorite, as nearly 7.7 percent of all Ukrainians, or 11.2 percent of those willing to cast their ballots, would vote for it.

The Petro Poroshenko Solidarity Bloc would come in second with 6.9 percent of votes by all respondents or 9.3 percent by those who are determined to come to polling stations. The Civil Position party led by Anatoliy Hrytsenko would be supported by 5.9 percent (8.3 percent) and the Opposition Bloc by 5.7 percent (8.4 percent).

The parties Za Zhyttia (For Life) led by Vadym Rabinovych (7.7 percent and 5.2 percent), the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko (7.3 percent and 5 percent), and the Samopomich faction (5.8 percent and 4.2 percent) would also overcome the 5 percent election threshold.

The poll showed also that 21.5 percent of the respondents would not go to polling stations, and 17.2 percent were undecided or refused to say for whom they would vote (15.3 percent of those wishing to vote also did not answer).