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KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday said he opposed holding elections earlier than is mandated by the constitution.

“The approach of planned votes for the president and the parliament makes the idea of early elections even more irrational. My position is unchanged: everything should happen in the timelines determined by the constitution,” he said in an address to parliament.

The presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for 2019 but many lawmakers have talked up the prospects of an early vote. Poroshenko currently trails the main opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko in opinion polls.