5 Jan 2014 10:18

All three opposition leaders to run in 1st round of Ukraine presidential polls - Arseniy Yatsenyuk

KYIV. Jan 5 (Interfax) - The leaders of all three opposition political forces will run in the first round of Ukraine's next presidential election, the head of the Batkivshchyna opposition faction, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, told the Channel 5 television said.

Such a decision was made in May 2013, he said.

"As far as our single candidate is concerned, we have already held several rounds of negotiations and have officially announced their results because on May 18 last year our three political forces signed an agreement in which they pledged to rally around a single candidate in the second round. This agreement was signed and it must be implemented. The agreement says very clearly that the first round will serve as primaries for all the candidates, and a candidate who scores the best result [in the first round] will receive the support of all the opposition forces during the second round," Yatsenyuk said.

"Nothing has changed officially at this stage," he said.

"Our victory will be the formation by the three opposition forces in 2014 of a united winning team for pro-European reforms," he added.