Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered a snap parliamentary election for Oct. 26 with the aim of clearing out loyalists of ousted Moscow-backed leader, Viktor Yanukovich, and producing an assembly with a pro-Europe majority. The election is also aimed at securing further legitimacy for Kiev's new pro-Western direction after "Euromaidan" protests last winter, broadly supported by the West but denounced by Russia as a coup after Yanukovich's fall. Opinion polls suggest the new assembly will be dominated by pro-Europe parties, including Poroshenko's bloc. Yanukovich's Regions Party has been erased as a political force and is not running. Its allies, the Communists, might not win any representation for the first time since independence in 1991. The main parties competing are: - The Poroshenko bloc comprising the Solidarity party of the president and Udar led by Vitaly Klitschko. - Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) led by former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. - Radical Party headed by Oleh Lyashko. - People's Front led by Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk. - Strong Ukraine of former first deputy prime minister Serhiy Tigipko - Communist party of Petro Simonenko Basic Facts - Poroshenko dissolved the 450-seat parliament in August after the parliamentary majority formally disbanded. - Half of the chamber is elected by a proportional system of party lists. A party must achieve at least 5 percent of votes to enter parliament. - The other half of parliament will be elected in single-mandate election districts on first-past-the-post basis. These should number 225 seats, as with the party lists seats, but they have been reduced to 199 because of the loss of Crimea, annexed by Russia, and separatists who are preventing voting taking place in parts of the east. - Only 424 deputies are likely to be elected, according to preliminary expectations of the Central Election Commission. - The Commission has ruled out any voting in 14 districts in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions which are controlled by pro-Russian separatists. - The Commission says there will be no voting in 12 districts of Crimea, annexed by Russia. - 29 parties and groups will compete for the 225 seats of political parties. There are 3,114 candidates on party lists. - 3,556 candidates will compete for 199 seats in single-mandate districts. - The new parliament will have one month to create a majority which must form a new government. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/113619.aspx
