KIEV, April 8 – Yuriy Lutsenko, a high-profile political prisoner pardoned by President Viktor Yanukovych Sunday, said Monday it will take millions of people on the streets to make sure there is a peaceful transition of power after the next presidential election.

Lutsenko, in his first television interview after his release from jail, praised opposition parties for unfolding protest rallies across Ukraine ahead of the presidential election in March 2015.

He ruled out his running for a seat in Parliament or at the presidential election, but said he will work with opposition leaders to make sure there is a single candidate to challenge Yanukovych at the election.

“I want to emphasize that the scale of future support for the single candidate should be as big as during the [Orange Revolution in 2004],” Lutsenko said in an interview with TVi. “Now, imagine the scale. We’re talking about millions of people!”

This is the first time that a prominent opposition figure has openly suggested that the next presidential election may turn into a massive protest against the government similar if not greater in scale than the Orange Revolution, a popular uprising against election fraud in November and December 2004.

Lutsenko, who played an important role as a field commander during the uprising, said probably more efforts will be needed to unseat Yanukovych compared with efforts unseating then President Leonid Kuchma in 2004.

“Yanukovych is far more stuck to his chair than Kuchma,” Lutsenko said, adding that he will share his experience with thousands of field commanders that will be recruited ahead of the presidential election to guide the protest.

“We are talking about thousands of field commanders,” Lutsenko said. “And I, for one, do not pretend to be the chief here. I may be someone who knows a lot and can share his knowledge.”

Lutsenko was arrested in December 2010 and was subsequently sentenced to four years in prison for abuse of office. This, and the arrest and jailing to seven years of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in October 2011, raised concerns in the EU and the US that Ukraine’s democracy was at risk.

Yanukovych pardoned Lutsenko on Sunday apparently bowing to pressure from the European Union and the United States.

Lutsenko praised three leaders of opposition parties, Arseniy Yatseniuk, Vitaliy Klichko and Oleh Tiahnybok, for holding rallies across Ukraine and for preparing for the massive protests.

“I one-hundred-percent support of the current leaders of the opposition,” Lutsenko said. “I'm sure they are doing right. They wake people up, teach people take to the streets for their rights.”

Lutsenko cited recent parliamentary elections in Ukraine when some pro-government candidates played dirty tricks against opposition candidates, in some cases cancelling up to 34,000 votes by a court ruling – mainly in areas supporting an opposition candidate - to win the seat.

“The last elections to parliament showed that formal victory still does not mean victory,” Lutsenko said. “Why? Because the people voted for the opposition candidate, and went home. But it turns out that people still have to defend their votes.”

“So that's my role in the future so that a single opposition candidate received help people who know exactly whom, for what and under which plan they support,” Lutsenko said. “I have experience and I have the plan.” (tl/ez)