"I will not allow illegal presidential elections..."
President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko calls on the international community to help Ukraine preserve democracy.
According to an UNIAN correspondent, he said this on Friday at a meeting with Ambassadors of G7, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Sweden, and the chairman of the European Commission Office to Ukraine.
Victor Yushchenko stressed that he gathered the ambassadors to inform them of his assessment of the political situation in Ukraine.
“During the last week, in fact, all the masks were thrown off”, Victor Yushchenko said, having informed about the talks on forming the coalition between the Party of Regions and BYuT. According to the President, the main aim of forming the coalition is to introduce amendments into the Constitution next week.
The President stressed, the amendments stipulate that incumbent Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will remain on her post for the next ten years. Besides, the amendments stipulate an unconstitutional norm of electing the President by the Verkhovna Rada. Victor Yushchenko emphasized that, in this case, the matter concerns reduction of democratic freedoms and rights of citizens, and such amendments cannot be passed without an all-Ukrainian referendum.
Victor Yushchenko also described as illegal the initiatives on prolonging the authorities of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and local governments. “All these initiatives are illegal, in fact, it is a constitutional coup. It is a dismantling of all the democratic values achieved by Ukraine during the last several years”, the President pointed out.
Victor Yushchenko asked the Ambassadors to pass this information to their countries leadership, and asks their countries to support the Ukrainian democracy.
“I, being the President of Ukraine, guarantee that I will not allow illegal presidential elections in parliament, and will do my best for Ukraine fulfill all its international commitments on securing human rights and freedoms”, Victor Yushchenko said.