Moroz decides to resign as Socialist Party leader
. The leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU), Oleksandr Moroz, has said he is planning to announce his resignation as party leader at a party congress in April, Kommersant-Ukraine reported on Thursday.
Moroz signed a respective statement earlier this week, but he has not yet registered it in the party's secretariat.
"Oleksandr Moroz has recently been ill, spending most of the time in the Feofaniya clinic. It is not ruled out that he is resigning for health reasons," a source told Kommersant.
In a conversation with Kommersant, Moroz did not reject the possibility of his resignation, but refused to speak directly about it. "The party has decided that former MPs will stand for the Verkhovna Rada only in single-member constituencies, therefore, I have to demonstrate the same diligence and run for parliament in a constituency," he said, adding that he will not be able to lead the electoral list of the Socialist Party of Ukraine.
According to Moroz, during preparations for the elections, the Socialist Party "should maximally concentrate the functions of the people responsible for the holding of the election campaign." "I think that the congress will take the best decision how I should run in a constituency and how the party should be mobilized,” Moroz said.
The SPU deputy head, Vasyl Silchenko, confirmed that the question of a change in the leadership of the political party was being discussed. "It is possible that we will soon form a new composition of the executive committee and political council of the party, and the SPU leader will announce his resignation. Oleksandr Oleksandrovych [Moroz] has repeatedly said that we should clear the way for young people," he said.
Silchenko also said that several people were claiming the post of party chairman. First and foremost, three first deputy heads of the Socialist Party of Ukraine are being considered: the head of the party's election headquarters, Petro Ustenko, the former head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, Valentyna Semeniuk-Samsonenko, and an employee of the State Affairs Department, Zinoviy Kholodniuk.
