Ukraine Election: Poroshenko Turns Down TV Debate
Ukraine Election: Poroshenko Turns Down TV Debate
Ukrainian presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko will not be taking part in the Shuster Live television show on May 23, his press office says.
The official reason given for this is the “tight schedule of meetings planned for the day”.
Poroshenko’s press office says he is grateful to Savik Shuster’s studio for the invitation and will take it up on another occasion.
“Airtime on central television is always important to and esteemed by Petro Poroshenko, in that it provides an opportunity to present one’s position and vision on matters of principle to large numbers of people. However, what is important is not only declaring one’s intentions, but also implementing a programme of action,” a statement from his press office said.
Poroshenko is apparently spending the day meeting “people from the regions”. He will also meet Danish foreign minister Martin Lindegaard, Norwegian foreign minister Børge Brende, and the head of the European Union delegation to Ukraine Jan Tombiński.
The First National TV channel earlier held a draw for the “national debates” series. The last three candidates to hold a debate before the [May 25] election will be Yulia Timoshenko, Serhiy Tihipko and Valery Konovalyuk, on May 23.
On May 22, Timoshenko stated that she was insisting on a face-to-face debate with Petro Poroshenko, her main opponent in the presidential race.
This article republished from Ukrainska Pravda with kind permission.
