In the program on Channel 5 on Tuesday, Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stated that it is the Ukrainian public, not the opposition or the experts that can correctly assess the situation in the country and the work of the Government.
M.Tomenko reminded that in due time, Mykola Azarov, Prime Minister of Ukraine, declared that "life has become better, life has become more joyful" in Ukraine. However, Ukrainske Demokratychne Kolo agency held a public opinion poll concerning the public assessment of 2010 at the request of the Institute of Politics. According to the Deputy Chairman, "the results of it prove that the Prime Minister was right - "life has become better, life has become more joyful" only for 8% of Ukrainian citizens." It is this number of people who stated that their material standing had improved for the past ten months. Still, "life has become worse and sadder" for 46,4% of the respondents who claimed that their material standing had worsened for the past ten months. 43,9% of the respondents stated that their material standing had not changed.
M.Tomenko admitted that most Ukrainian citizens are disappointed with the year 2010. Thus, 45% of the citizens believe that this year was bad for the country, whereas 9,6% consider this year good for Ukraine.