WASHINGTON, October 27 (RIA Novosti) - The European Union will be handed a huge dilemma if Ukrainian exit polls are correct, media business analyst and Senior Fellow at the American University in Moscow, William Dunkerley told RIA Novosti.
"In 2012 the EU Parliament declared the Ukrainian parliamentary elections to be 'unsatisfactory' and a 'step backwards,' citing in particular the election of the Svoboda Party to the Parliament of Ukraine. The EU suggested this would be an obstacle to signing the Association Agreement if the country doesn't demonstrate tangible progress towards democratic principles," Dunkerley said on Sunday.
Expert reminds that the European Parliament characterized Svoboda as "racist, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic" and appealed to pro-democratic parties in the Ukrainian Parliament not to associate with, endorse, or form coalitions with Svoboda which now seems on track to be awarded seats in the new Parliament.
"Quite problematic is the fact that the EU has already signed the Association Agreement. Confronted today with another Svoboda victory, will the EU stick to its earlier statements? Or will it throw "fundamental values and principles" to the wind and embrace the 2014 results? If they do, it would seem to be a substantial "step backwards" by the EU and a tangible retreat from democratic principles," Dunkerley pointed out.
Earlier Sunday leader of Petro Poroshenko's bloc, Yuriy Lutsenko, said he does not rule out participation of the radical nationalist party Svoboda in the ruling coalition in newly-elected Ukrainian parliament, with Svoboda getting more than 6 percent of the votes according to the national exit poll results.
The Petro Poroshenko Bloc is leading Ukraine's snap parliamentary elections on Sunday with around 23 percent of the ballot as seven political parties have passed the vote threshold in Ukrainian snap elections on Sunday, according to three exit polls.
Poroshenko's bloc is closely followed by Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk's People's Front with some 21.3 percent, Samopomoshch (Selfhelp) party headed by mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovy is in the third place with 13.2 percent.
