Analysis

Ukrainian PM to run for parliament, possibly set up new party

Ukraine’s prime minister Volodymyr Groysman has announced that he will run for parliament in the country’s general election, set to take place in October.

Speaking in a TV interview on April 22, the prime minister hinted at the possibility of creating a new political movement for the election. “It will be a political force that unites people with good reputations, people who are able not only to talk but to do things, who will be devoted to the country,” the PM told the Ukrainian press.

Mr Groysman was nominated for prime minister by the ruling Petro Poroshenko Bloc – Solidarity party in 2016. After Volodymyr Zelensky’s landslide victory in the presidential election at the weekend, he thanked incumbent president Petro Poroshenko, saying that “much has been done [by Mr Poroshenko] for Ukraine to become a modern European country.”

While the PM’s statements are seen as a move to distance himself from the president,

Hennadiy Moskal, governor of Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region has offered his resignation following Mr Poroshenko’s defeat, with the governors of the Mykolaiv and Lviv regions having reportedly done the same.