Ruling coalition in Ukraine breaks up, may lead to snap election

Ukraine’s ruling coalition broke up on Friday after the People’s Front party quit outgoing President Petro Poroshenko’s faction. The move potentially paves the way for incoming President Volodymyr Zelensky to call a snap election, Reuters said.

Parliament now has one month to form a new coalition or else the president can dissolve parliament and call snap parliamentary elections.

However, some analysts see the break-up of the coalition as a setback for the president-elect’s plans to hold early elections, AP said. Dissolving the parliament is necessary for holding a snap election, but under Ukrainian law, the president cannot do so if there is no governing coalition.

Zelensky, a comedian with no prior political experience, is due to be inaugurated on Monday. He won a landslide against Poroshenko last month but his newly formed party lacks any representation in parliament.