(dpa/TBI Africa.com) Following his decisive defeat in the last round of presidential elections on Sunday, Ukraine’s outgoing President Petro Poroshenko says he has plans for a swift return to office.
“Together we are preparing for victory in the next parliamentary elections, together we will get back into the presidential office in the next presidential elections,’’ Poroshenko told hundreds of supporters in Kiev on Tuesday.
Poroshenko lost the presidency on Sunday to comedian and actor VolodymyrZelensky, who is to govern crisis-stricken Ukraine for the next five years. Parliamentary elections are to be held in the autumn.
The local administration chief of the Zakarpattia region handed in his resignation in solidarity with Poroshenko on Tuesday, following resignations from chiefs in the western region Lviv and the Mykolaiv Black Sea port region.
The 41-year-old Zelensky secured nearly three-quarters of the votes after presenting himself as an alternative to an establishment that has long struggled with entrenched corruption.
He is due to take office by June 3, at the latest.
Poroshenko has led Ukraine through the toughest period of its post-Soviet history as the military and pro-Russian separatists battle near the Russian border.
