KYIV. April 21 (Interfax) - A new draft of the Ukrainian constitution will be presented in October or November 2014 due to well-coordinated actions by democratic forces representing the government and the president, says Ukrainian presidential candidate and parliamentarian Petro Poroshenko.
Meeting with Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland in Strasbourg on Friday, Poroshenko assured him that Ukrainian society has already been involved in the process of the constitution's amendment thanks to a special expert team, Poroshenko's press service reported.
Poroshenko said the country requires the Venice Commission's expertise and evaluation concerning, in particular, the distribution of powers between the different government branches.
He is confident that most Ukrainian citizens are against the country's federalization and welcomed a referendum "with a question about decentralization against the question on federalization."
"We are ready to delegate powers concerning the replenishment of local budgets, infrastructure, housing and utilities and a lot of others to local communities. I am sure that most of the Ukrainian citizens favor unity and are against federalization, which is being forced upon us from the outside with the aim of destabilizing the country," he said.
Ukraine is ready to hold fair and transparent presidential elections complying as much as possible with democratic standards, the key goal being to prevent the disruption of the elections scheduled for May 25, Poroshenko said.
The politician called on the Council of Europe to send as many observers as possible to Ukraine so that they could confirm the observance of democratic standards during the campaign and the elections themselves.