File photo: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
Ukraine's ruling parliamentary majority was officially disbanded on Thursday, setting the stage for early legislative elections in the strife-torn ex-Soviet state.
Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov announced the formal dissolution of the European Choice coalition in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada in a move that gives President Petro Poroshenko the right over the next month to announce a fresh parliamentary poll.
The announcement was triggered by the withdrawal of several parties including the pro-European Udar party of former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko and the Fatherland group of ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko in anticipation of an early vote.
Early parliamentary elections in Ukraine have been expected since the February ouster of Kremlin-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych following months of deadly protests. The country was previously due to hold a vote only in 2017.
Poroshenko who was elected in May after constitutional changes handed more powers to parliament said that the deputies were recognising a groundswell of popular opinion that a new set of lawmakers should be chosen.
"All public opinion polls, as well as direct contact with people, shows that the public wants a complete overhaul of those in power," Poroshenko said in a statement.
He pledged though that the possibility of upcoming elections would not paralyse the work of parliament at a time when Kiev is struggling to end a bloody separatist insurrection tearing apart the east of the country.