( RT ) - Ukraine is preparing for a snap parliamentary election this coming Sunday. President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved the parliament (the Rada) in April, causing months of protests in the streets of Kiev, which forced the emergency vote.
Many Ukrainians see the upcoming early vote as a deja vu election because they will have to go to the polling stations for the fourth time in three years. Some say that it could lead Ukraine out of the crisis but many are rather pessimistic. They believe this election will not change the balance of powers and it is just another political game.
Several months of protests on the streets of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, followed Yushchenko's decision to dissolve the Rada. The sides finally managed to find an agreement to hold early parliamentary elections, set for September 30.
Twenty-one parties have been registered to take part in the elections. But the main fight for power will be taking place between the three major political forces in Ukraine: the so-called Orange block, the Yulia Timoshenko's block and the Party of the Regions, headed by the Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich. The party is believed to be the most popular in Ukraine with over 30% of the population supporting it.
According to reports, Yulia Timoshenko's block and Yury Lutsenko's People's Self-Defence movement ('Narodna Samooborona') revealed that if they manage to win the majority of seats in the Rada, they would form a coalition. And that, as many analysts say, could result in more people taking to the streets because that way Viktor Yanukovich's party will find itself in opposition.
As for the political platforms of the parties, they are mostly the same - they deal with bread-and-butter issues like increasing pensions and salaries and improving demography.
But Ukraine's former president, Leonid Kuchma, doesn't think that the upcoming election will solve the political crisis in the country.
"I don't believe that early elections as a democratic tool will help Ukraine. The balance of powers will most likely stay the same - half the parliament from Eastern Ukraine, half from the West. Besides, the prime minister allowed the parliament to be dissolved, allowing such games to be possible in the future, if a certain political force isn't satisfied with the results of the vote. So I think the elections will show that it's not the solution for Ukraine," Mr Kuchma said.