KIEV, Oct. 14 – The opposition Udar party on Sunday said it will withdraw 32 candidates from majority districts across Ukraine throwing support behind single candidates to defeat the ruling Regions Party at October 28 parliamentary elections.

Hours later, Batkivshchyna, another major opposition party, responded with a statement suggesting it will recall 26 of its candidates in other majority districts in favor of Udar.

The withdrawals pledged by the two most popular opposition parties come at 58 out of 225 majority districts in Ukraine, suggesting the parties may have failed to strike a comprehensive agreement.

Moreover, the rhetoric released by the two parties show the groups are at a major disagreement over 13 candidates in the capital of Kiev, showing little progress the parties made in the most vital region.

At stake are 225 seats in the 450-seat Parliament that will be decided in the majority districts across Ukraine and where Batkivshchyna and Udar have often competed against each other, benefiting the Regions Party.

The cooperation between Udar and Batkivshchyna is essential in their strategy of jointly defeating the ruling Regions Party.

Udar, led by heavyweight boxing champion Vitaliy Klichko, said the decision to withdraw 32 candidates was part of that strategy.

“It’s was made for the sake of victory and for the formation of the democratic majority in Parliament and removing from power the ruling Regions Party,” Udar said. “We trust that Batkivshchyna, coming out of the same thinking, will withdraw its candidates from 22 districts.”

A party can withdraw candidates from the elections by submitting an application no later than 12 days before the election on October 28. This means all applications must be submitted no later than Tuesday.

Batkivshchyna plans to hold its convention on Monday and plans to surprise Udar with 26 withdrawals, not 22 that Udar has wanted, according to the statement released by the party.

Meanwhile, commented released by party officials suggest that the two parties are at a major disagreement over Kiev candidates, indicating that the elections in Kiev may be less stressful for pro-government candidates.

There are 13 majority districts in Kiev, and there was a known agreement between Udar and Batkivshchyna on only two of them, suggesting 11 are still in question.

“In fact, Udar is suggesting to withdraw seven Batkivshchyna candidates in Kiev, while Udar has agreed to recall only two,” a Kiev branch of the Batkivshchyna party said in a statement. “Udar is suggesting to recall the candidates that have a realistic chance of winning in favor of traitors and corrupt politicians.”

Ksenia Liapina and Serhiy Teriokhin, two prominent opposition figures supported by Batkivshchyna, are in the center of a dispute with Udar.

Udar, citing an independent opinion poll, said these two and five other Batkivshchyna candidates are lagging behind their own candidates, and thus must be recalled.

Liapina, in a statement, called the Udar proposal “an ultimatum” and a “gross pre-election provocation” aimed at disrupting the talks between the two opposition groups.

Meanwhile, the opnion polls obtained by KOmmersant daily newspaper show that both, Liapina and Teriokhin, are trailing behind Udar candidates, Oleksiy Davydenko and Mykola Babenko, respectively, in their districts.

“Opinion polls show Liapina and Teriokhin enjoy lesseer support in the districts,” Kommersant wrote. (tl/ez)