Opposition to name its presidential candidate just before election for his safety, says Turchynov

16:35, 21.05.2013 1 min read

The Ukrainian opposition will name its single candidate for the presidency shortly before the beginning of the election campaign in order to protect him.

"The opposition will name its single candidate when the election campaign begins to avoid there being danger for the opposition's candidate," the head of the political council of the Batkivschyna Party, MP Oleksandr Turchynov told journalists on Tuesday.

"We won't do this ahead of time. The time will come, the election campaign will start, [and] the opposition will demonstrate its unity [by announcing] its single candidate," he said.

At the same time, Turchynov said that the opposition should agree on a single candidate no matter how the presidential campaign is held – in one or two rounds.

"I hope that in both the first round and in two rounds of the presidential campaign Batkivschyna will insist on nominating a single candidate in the first round under any scenario," he said.