MOSCOW, November 19 (Sputnik) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Wednesday he was ready to sign the final draft of the government coalition in the country's parliament that was published by President Petro Poroshenko.
"I have studied the coalition agreement in detail that appeared on the Petro Poroshenko Bloc's website. I publicly announce that I am ready to place my signature on the final draft of the coalition agreement," Yatsenyuk said during his opening statement at a cabinet meeting.
Ukraine is forming a new coalition following an early vote on October 26. A total of 423 seats were up for election. President Poroshenko's party, Petro Poroshenko Bloc received a total of 132 seats. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's party, People's Front, gained 82 seats.
In the wake of the ballot, Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk entered talks to form a "powerful democratic coalition" of pro-European parties in the Ukrainian parliament known as the Verkhovna Rada, a move applauded by the West. They need 226 seats to secure a majority.
Last week, Poroshenko's party unveiled a draft coalition agreement on its website, which it said had been framed together with People's Front party, as well as the Samopomich (Self-Help) party, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party and the nationalist Radical Party, who also made gains in the parliamentary elections.
Ukrainian lawmaker Volodymyr Groysman, of Poroshenko Bloc, said earlier in the day the parliament was set to hold its first session on November 27. Groysman, who is in charge of organizing the first parliamentary get-together, said this decision had been taken at Wednesday's meeting of the preparatory committee.
