Ukraine President Tells Party to Back Yatsenyuk for PM

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Daryna Krasnolutska, Volodymyr Verbyany – October 31, 2014)

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko “suggested” his party support Arseniy Yatsenyuk for the post of prime minister.

The president made the announcement on his Twitter account today, less than a week after Poroshenko’s and Yatsenyuk’s parties finished neck-and-neck as the top vote winners in Oct. 26 parliamentary elections.

Pro-European parties may have won enough seats in Kiev for a two-thirds constitutional majority, defeating Russian-leaning political forces. Yatsenyuk’s party led the Poroshenko Bloc 22.16 percent to 21.82 percent, with 99.53 percent counted of the party-list voting that makes up half of the legislature, according to the Central Electoral Commission. Coalition talks were planned for later today.

Ukraine held parliamentary elections amid intensifying fighting in country’s east. More than 3,700 people have been killed during the conflict between pro-Russian rebels and government forces, the United Nations estimates.

Article ©2014 Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved. Article also appeared at bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-31/ukraine-president-tells-party-to-back-yatsenyuk-for-pm.html

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