Naryshkin hopeful Ukrainian voters realize danger of "party of war" election victory
MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) - The struggle between the party of war and the party of peace will be the centerpiece of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine, said Russian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin.
"Nearly 30 political parties are seeking seats at the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada but, in fact, there is a rivalry between two large notional parties - the party of war and the party of peace," Naryshkin told reporters on Friday.
Ukraine will hold early parliament elections on October 26.
The speaker hopes Ukrainian citizens realize that "the party of war cannot give the country and society anything but further escalation of the crisis, suffering and destructions."
The Ukrainian election campaign is taking place under extreme conditions, a deep division of the public, a bloody civil war and a humanitarian catastrophe, Naryshkin said.
The country is lacking normal political rivalry and a national dialogue, instead political persecution of opponents is growing, "lots of inconvenient mass media outlets are closed down and physical violence is used against opponents," he said.
"As if training for the elections, they are dumping unwelcome opponents, opposition candidates into litter boxes, garbage bins and people are intimidated with large-scale actions, such as Nazi-style torch marches," the State Duma speaker added.
He emphasized that the Ukrainian authorities did not even try to stop such actions.
Naryshkin regretted that thousands of Ukrainians who died in the February state coup and the punitive operation against Donbas residents would be unable to take part in these and future elections.
"In addition, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who fled their homes and ran away from the army of their own country, practically, from their own death will find it very hard to use their voting rights," Naryshkin said.
Indeed, everyone wants clean, fair and representative elections and most of the voters realize the degree of their personal responsibility for the future of the country and the high significance of this ballot, he said.