Ukrainian ex-'orange revolutionaries' may reunite
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KIEV, December 21 (RIA Novosti)-Ukrainian members of political parties who participated in the former Soviet republic's 2004 Orange Revolution that brought the country's former president Viktor Yushchenko to power, intend to create a joint opposition party.
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Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc - Fatherland (Batkivshchyna) party and ex-president Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine - People's Self-Defense party were allies during the so-called Orange Revolution, when public protests brought Yushchenko to power.
After the victory, Yushchenko, who earlier promised Tymoshenko the post of prime minister, unexpectedly changed his mind in appointing her, but she made public a classified document in which Yushchenko had promised to appoint her if he won, and the president was forced to fulfill his promise.
Tymoshenko's government was dismissed in September 2005 due to increasing opposition between different groups in Yushchenko's entourage.
The parties decided to begin the formation of a joint opposition to the current leadership, Ukrainian news agency UNIAN said citing BYT deputy Vasyl Derevlyany as saying.
"This week, we will come up with a joint statement signed by those lawmakers who wish to join the opposition," Derevlyany said.
The opposition will include lawmakers from Batkivshchyna, Our Ukraine, other BYT bloc member parties, and For Ukraine and will be joined by lawmakers from the Ukrainian People's Party, Derevlyany added.
Another BYT member, Andriy Pavlovsky, said the new opposition will jointly fight against the current regime in the country.
Yanukovych's pro-Western predecessor, Yushchenko, was elected in a runoff after public protests and upheavals that followed Yanukovych's victory in the first round that international observers declared flawed.
Critics of Yanukovych's administration have accused him of rolling back some of the freedoms of the Yushchenko presidency. Yushchenko and Tymoshenko expressed anger over the ratification of a naval base agreement with Russia.
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