Ukraine stumbled closer to snap parliamentary elections on Tuesday, as its ruling parties failed to form a new government amid increasingly tense talks on who would fill key posts.
Deputies had been expected to approve the resignation of Arseniy Yatsenyuk as prime minister and back Volodymyr Groysman to replace him, but negotiations dragged on all day without yielding agreement on a full list of cabinet ministers.
Ukraine is under mounting pressure to end a period of political paralysis that has increased doubts about the commitment of its ruling elite to fight corruption and implement sweeping reforms, as demanded by the country’s western backers.
A new, narrower coalition with a slim parliamentary majority appears to have been agreed between the two biggest parties in the current alliance, President Petro Poroshenko’s eponymous bloc and Mr Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front.
Mr Groysman, the current speaker of parliament, is a protege of Mr Poroshenko, but deputies blamed the pair's inability to agree on important ministerial portfolios for the country's continued political drift.
“The president and Groysman can’t agree on who will appoint a cabinet of ministers loyal to himself,” said deputy and anti-corruption campaigner Serhiy Leshchenko.
“The temperature is rising and talks have hit a dead end,” he added.
Several deputies said the main disagreement was over who would become economic development minister and minister for energy.
Huge influence
Both posts give their incumbents huge influence over Ukraine’s economy, making them particularly valuable in a country where political and financial interests are still entwined, and “oligarchs” have a great say in how key decisions are made.
Major western powers are keeping a close eye on who will become finance minister, given Ukraine’s reliance on international funding, and its need to implement vital reforms to secure continued access to billions of euro in aid.
The key post is expected to go to Oleksandr Danylyuk – the president's representative in the current cabinet.
Mr Leshchenko, a member of Mr Poroshenko's party, suggested dropping Mr Groysman's nomination for premier and proposing instead Natalie Yaresko, the US-born Ukrainian who has earned plaudits in her current role as finance minister.
"This whole story has gone on for two months already, and if it continues much longer then it will mean that parliament is incapable, and so we would need to go to elections," said Olexsiy Goncharenko, another deputy from president's party.
He said he expected the impasse to end on Wednesday or Thursday, but warned: “If we don’t reach some kind of decision this week, then it seems to me that would be the start of early elections.”
The Ukrainska Pravda news portal published what it said was a text message from Yuriy Lutsenko, a senior member of Mr Poroshenko's party, warning deputies that the president would call snap elections if no decision was reached on Wednesday.
With its economy struggling and clashes in eastern regions between government troops and Russian-backed separatists now at their most intense for about a year, Ukraine can ill afford the upheaval and expense of another election.
