Poroshenko's party begins preparations for Ukrainian parliamentary elections
On the evening of April 23, the head of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc Solidarity (BPP) parliamentary faction in the Verkhovna Rada, Arthur Gerasimov, after a party meeting in Kyiv announced that Petro Poroshenko Bloc Solidarity party will take part in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada.
"We are going to the parliamentary elections. We started thoroughly discussing this topic," he said.
According to him, BPP Solidarity intends to carry out a change of personnel and form a list based on the primaries.
"In addition, of course, there will be personnel decisions. I mean, first of all, the party structure. Now, when recruiting the team, we will hold primaries among those who want to become members of our team, “said Gerasimov.
"There are no rose-colored glasses, we clearly understand what needs to be done, and we are already analyzing the mistakes that have been made," he added.
According to Gerasimov, immediately after the inauguration of the new president, the party will hold a meeting where Poroshenko will officially lead BPP.
Gerasimov said that Poroshenko was present at a meeting with the faction on Tuesday. "There were more than 100 deputies at this meeting as well members of the Cabinet of Ministers headed by Prime Minister Groysman," he said. Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko and the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak have also attended this meeting.
Formally the current leader of the BPP Solidarity is the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, however, in reality, the party does not have a leader. Klitschko took over the leadership of BPP Solidarity in August 2015 and created his own political party Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR)." In the spring of 2016, Klitschko announced his intention to leave the party post because of the new law on public service, which forbids the “A” category officials, including Klitschko, to combine work in the executive positions with membership in political parties.