ALJAZEERA: Ukrainian voters handed the country’s pro-European leadership a resounding victory in the first parliamentary elections since the Euromaidan uprising cut ties with Moscow. The results further marginalize the country’s Russia-backed rebels and expand President Petro Poroshenko’s mandate to shrink the budget — a reform pro-Europe politicians say is needed to save the country from economic collapse.
With about half the votes from Sunday’s poll tallied by Monday afternoon, Poroshenko had already begun to hold power-sharing talks with ex-interim President Arseny Yatsenyuk, whose People’s Front party surprised many by winning about 21 percent of the vote, just shy of the 23 percent claimed by Poroshenko’s bloc.
In comments broadcast on national television, Poroshenko said the electorate had given a “strong and irreversible backing to Ukraine’s path to Europe” with Sunday’s vote, and reiterated that he and Yatsenyuk would seek to swiftly build a coalition to steer their country toward greater integration with the European Union… (more)
