Poroshenko supports Yatsenyuk as Ukraine’s new prime minister

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko backed on Friday the idea of nominating Arseniy Yatsenyuk as the country’s prime minister, TASS reported.

“I have proposed that my faction in the Verkhovna Rada nominates Yatsenyuk as the head of the new cabinet,” Poroshenko wrote on his Twitter microblog.

According to the latest data on the October 26 vote count, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc secured 22.16% of the votes, while the People’s Front led by Yatsenyuk won 21.83% of the votes.

At the first meeting expected later on Friday, the representatives of three parties elected to the parliament — the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, the People’s Front and the Samopomich (Self-Help) — are due to discuss setting up a coalition in the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.

On Wednesday, the representatives of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc and the People’s Front applied for establishing the coalition.

Yatsenyuk earlier proposed creating the "European Ukraine" coalition, and called the Petro Poroshenko Bloc a “strategic partner.” He also proposed involving Samopomich, Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) and the Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko in the coalition.