Yulia Tymoshenko to lead the Ukrainian opposition

The united opposition also voiced its intent to participate in the Verkhovnaya Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) election campaign, which officially starts this Monday. For the first time the elections will be held according to the mixed system, and despite the fact that the Regional Party and the opposition have approximately equal ratings, the balance of power in the parliament will be determined by the deputies elected by the majoritarian electoral districts. Eugeniy Kopatko, a sociologist, hopes that this time the politicians will use less dirty PR technologies.

«There has been already too much dirty publicity. I don't believe that many politicians will be so traditional not to use that experience. But I think that our society is looking for the positive side, for the achievements, for a success story. I think that this will be if not a trend for many people, for the ones that can successfully use it this factor will be a serious success factor. Especially when the majoritarian districts are concerned».

This Monday the Ukrainian Parliament refused to accept the resignation of its Speaker Vladimir Litvin. The Verkhovnaya Rada Chairman made a decision to resign after the controversial «language» law was approved in violation of the legal procedure. The first deputy Speaker managed the procedure while Litvin left the session before the voting. Political analyst Vadim Karasev believes that in reality this session is also dedicated to the language law.

«This extraordinary session of the Verkhovnaya Rada is called in order to resolve the issue of the language law. Because without its full approval, signing by the head of the Verkhovnaya Rada and sending it to the president for his signature, the Regional Party will not be able to launch its election campaign».

In his turn, political analyst Alexander Chalenko believes that the final approval of the language law will be postponed till the fall.

«The Regional Party is itself interested that the law is approved as close to the elections as possible. Because the voters in the long run are ungrateful people. And if some useful law is approved 3-4 months prior to the elections, the voters can forget about it».

0Experts believe that the return

0 the mixed election system will lead to some changes in the composition of the parliament. There will be more new faces in the Rada. Nevertheless, the choice of Yulia Tymoshenko as the opposition leader signals the fact that the key players will remain the same.