13:54 03.04.2019

Zelensky ready for debates, their format to be made known after second round announced

2 min read
Zelensky ready for debates, their format to be made known after second round announced

Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky said he is ready to participate in debate before the second round of the presidential election, but one should first wait for it to be officially announced, Dmytro Razumkov, a political consultant and an adviser with Zelensky's headquarters, said.

"Vladimir Zelensky has made it clear that he is ready for debates and he absolutely does not care if it will be [Ukraine's incumbent President Petro] Poroshenko, [Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia] Tymoshenko or some other candidate. I currently cannot say how it will happen, when and in what mode. Let's wait for the second round, and then we will resolve problems as they come," he told Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.

Razumkov said he understands what Zelensky's opponents are going to do, but said he believes "they should first apologize to the people whom incumbent President Petro Poroshenko insulted when he called them "Kolomoiskiy's marionettes" and when he called other candidates "pro-Russian."

"In the course of the election campaign, the president said there was he and everyone else was [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. It seems strange because, judging by the ratings that this election showed, 85% are not him [Poroshenko]. But I am confident that these 85% are real patriots of our country, in the same way as the 15% that voted for him. And that is the key difference between us, respect for people who make their informed choice, respect for the country's citizens," Razumkov said.

According to earlier reports, citing the Ukrainian legislation, the second round of the presidential election is held three weeks after the first one, i.e., on April 21.

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