371 candidates from UKROP will take part in the first elections of deputies and heads of village, town and city councils in the united territorial communities, which will be held on April 29. Among them 365 UKROP members are candidates for the deputies’ seats, and six – run for the head of the UTC.
The “Ukrainian Association of Patriots” expects to succeed, as the party has got leadership position in previous local elections in the UTC.
“Positive changes in Ukraine should start from inside. UKROP has a plan for the development of the country, and therefore will take an active part in the local elections on April 29,” said the head of the “Ukrainian Association of Patriots”, MP Taras Batenko.
According to him, the upcoming elections won’t be easy, as the authorities continue to put pressure upon the opposition candidates.
“The authorities have realized that they no longer have people’s support. On the eve of the election, we are witnessing pressure upon our candidates from the local administrations. The heads of the Regional State Administrations are afraid of losing influence at the local level and do everything possible to prevent democratic forces from getting seats in the local councils. But they cannot throw a scare into us,” said Taras Batenko.
Candidates from UKROP will take part in the local elections in 17 regions. The party has nominated most candidates in the local UTC in Dnipropetrovsk (70), Chernivtsi (42) and Kharkiv (36) regions. Another 33 UKROP members have registered for participation in local elections in Rivne region and 28 – in Ivano-Frankivsk region. At the same time, two candidates from UKROP run for the positions of the heads of the united territorial communities in Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions, and two more – in Zaporizhia and Poltava.
“Local elections demonstrate the real public mood of the Ukrainians better than any polls. It is very important for us to get support of voters and to meet people’s expectations,” said the head of the UKROP Party Secretariat Denys Borysenko.
Besides, the UKROP members will participate in the elections in Cherkasy region.
On April 29, the first elections of deputies of village, town and city councils of the united territorial communities and the corresponding village, town and city heads will be held in 40 UTC. Communities will elect deputies of 133 local councils, among which 113 are rural, 16 are in towns and 4 are in the cities.
After the elections in April, the total number of the first elections in the UTC appointed by the CEC will be 707.
According to the results of local elections in 2017, UKROP became one of the five leaders among the political parties that received the greatest support of voters in the united territorial communities.
