URP Rejects President vs. Left Scheme,Calls For Democratic Bloc

The entire vertical of power has been engaged in tracking down and suppressing political forces which reject the candidacy of Leonid Kuchma in principle. The state repressive machine detects and immediately destroys all sources supporting rival candidates and parties."

URP considers that the "Kuchma or Communists" as a campaign model being imposed by the Presidential Administration is very dangerous. This model provides for national democratic candidates (e.g., Chornovil or Udovenko) that will never be accepted. "This is actually another way to back Leonid Kuchma. The only role these candidates will play in the campaign will be to prevent the national democratic, statehood-oriented, patriotic, centrist, and Left-Center forces from rallying round a single statehood-oriented candidate capable of beating Leonid Kuchma in the primary," reports the Center for Journalistic Research.

The URP called on other parties and associations to combine efforts to support the candidacy of Yevhen Marchuk, forming an extensive democratic electoral bloc. In an interview with the Center for Journalistic Research, URP Deputy Chairman Anatoly Shybiko said that this bloc could be made up of Reforms and Order, the Greens, Ukrainian Social Democrats, Rukh, Democratic Party, Liberals, United Social Democrats, and the NDP.