The Opposition Bloc Party for Peace and Development that nominated Alexander Vilkul to vie for the presidency has called on their supporters to reject both Servant of the People party’s candidate Vladimir Zelensky and incumbent President Pyotr Poroshenko in the run-off, the political party’s press service announced.
“The result is that the run-off will not feature backers of peace and economic revival, but rather be contested by a representative of the “party of war” and a blatant populist. The most decent thing to do is to call on our voters to support neither of the candidates,” the statement reads.
“Given the current situation, we simply cannot ask to support incumbent President Pyotr Poroshenko, as we believe that his presidency has created a breakdown of the public administration system, and an era of lies and hypocrisy in politics. Poroshenko is precisely the one to lay the blame for the war and devastation, the deaths of tens of thousands of Ukrainians, persecution of the canonical church, the regime of fear and violence, rampant political thuggery and the country’s loss of all elements of agency,” the press service points out.
It also notes that the party believes it is impossible to support Zelensky, whose statements run contrary to its fundamental positions. “The lack of a coherent election program and administrative experience, along with the political eclecticism and populism of Zelensky are the reasons we are calling on our voters to reject his candidacy and not vote for a “pig in a poke”,” the party statement stresses.
Alexander Vilkul lost his bid for the presidency in the first round of the race and on Tuesday said that Ukraine was facing the most difficult choice rebuking the two candidates contending for the top position. He also said that his campaign was based a clear and coherent program that would be used for the autumn parliamentary elections.