MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's proposal on holding early presidential elections while the current parliamentary composition would in fact remain intact is a compromise for the authorities, the opposition and foreign players and could also be an instrument to weaken the influence of rightwing radicals, says Gleb Pavlovsky, the president of the Efficient Policy Foundation think-tank and an expert on Ukraine.
"The main thing in the formula proposed by Yanukovych is not early presidential elections but the absence of early parliamentary elections. It is the current opposition leaders who need early presidential elections, as they actually act as a weak but basically moderate group in this situation," Pavlovsky told Interfax on Friday.
Early elections to the Verkhovna Rada would be beneficial to rightwing radicals and some groups in the eastern part of the country, Pavlovsky said. "Early parliamentary elections would come in handy for the Maidan field commanders and new radicals - and not only radicals from the center and the west of Ukraine but also radicals from the east, where political improvisations have started with statements on Kharkiv's autonomy and so on," he said.
In theory, the option proposed by the president is acceptable to the ruling party, the moderate opposition, and foreign players, Pavlovsky said. "Yanukovych has chosen an option that is generally acceptable to the opposition elites, to Russia and to Europe. This is acceptable also to most of the Party of Regions, because it holds the majority in parliament now anyway. This means that the current parliament is preserved on the whole for the period of preparations for presidential elections and plays the role of a certain anchor of stability. As the opposition leaders will run in the presidential elections themselves, they are not interested in losing soil while transferring the process to the streets," Pavlovsky said.
At the same time, the efficiency of implementing this formula causes some questions, Pavlovsky said. "This formula should weaken the street's pressure on the opposition and Yanukovych himself. Whether this can be done or not is another matter. I think it would be not easy to win recognition of this formula by the radicals. Especially because they are armed now," he said.