The Socialist Party of Ukraine has chosen the party leader, Oleksandr Moroz, for presidential candidate from the party.
Of 422 party congress delegates registered, 268 supported the nomination of Moroz.
After the open vote for the candidacy of Oleksandr Moroz, the delegates did not vote for the candidacy of State Property Fund former chairperson Valentyna Semeniuk-Samsonenko, as the majority of the delegates had given their votes to Moroz.
Moreover, the party congress has appointed Volodymyr Tarasov, one of the founders of the SPU and the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of the fifth convocation, as the representative of Oleksandr Moroz at the Central Election Commission.
From 1992 through 1998, Volodymyr Tarasov headed the Central Control Commission of the Socialist Party of Ukraine.
The party congress has also endorsed the election platform of the nominee for the presidential candidate Oleksandr Moroz, although the document has yet to be released in full.
On being elected the nominee for the presidential candidate from the party, Oleksandr Moroz thanked the delegates to the congress and expressed his regret at the tragedy occurred in the course of the congress.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Mykhailo Melnychuk, the secretary of the political council of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, died in the course of the second phase of the 15th party congress.
The party congress delegates were voting to choose between Socialist Party Leader Oleksandr Moroz and State Property Fund former chairperson Valentyna Semeniuk-Samsonenko as the party’s candidate for the post of president of Ukraine, when Mykhailo Melnychuk felt faint.
Earlier, the political council of the Socialist Party of Ukraine recommended the party congress delegates to support Serhii Tihipko for the president of Ukraine. However, the Socialist Party of Ukraine has withdrawn from the process of negotiations on the support to Tihipko.
To date, the Central Election Commission has registered the following citizens as the presidential candidates: MP Anatolii Hrytsenko from the faction of the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense Bloc, MP Arsenii Yatseniuk from the same faction of the parliament, Communist Party of Ukraine Leader Petro Symonenko, and Oleh Riabokon.
To date, the Central Election Commission has received applications for registration as presidential candidates from Serhii Tihipko, the former governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, from Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn, and independent MP Inna Bohoslovska.
The Batkivschyna all-Ukrainian Association Party has nominated its leader, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for presidential candidate.
The Party of Regions has nominated its leader Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian People’s Party has nominated its leader, MP Yurii Kostenko from the faction of the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense Bloc, and the Svoboda all-Ukrainian Association Party has nominated its leader Oleh Tiahnybok.
