The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the first reading and as a whole the law on elections of the President of Ukraine. 400 deputies voted for the corresponding decision at the evening session on Thursday.

Today in Lutsk, in the conference hall of the Volyn Regional Universal Scientific Library named after Olena Pchilka, the founding meeting of the Student Brotherhood of Volyn was held.

Yesterday (March 17) the National Bank adopted a decision to change the peg of Ukrainian banks' capitalization standards from the euro to the hryvnia. This was announced today in Lutsk by NBU Governor Serhiy Tihipko at a press conference for regional media.

Serhiy Tihipko believes that if the political reform is implemented, the majority will be able to agree on a single candidate in the presidential elections. He stated this today at a press conference in Lutsk.\nWho will be this "single candidate" from the majority, Serhiy Tihipko did not give a specific answer.

Today in Lutsk, a seminar began its work on the state and prospects for the development of museum and library affairs in populated areas of Ukraine, conducted by the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC).

\nThe Verkhovna Rada adopted a resolution on holding the presidential elections on October 31, 2004. \n \n429 deputies voted for this resolution.

Today, the Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, Serhiy Tihipko, is on a working visit to Lutsk.

Today, Advisor of the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in Ukraine Valeriy Baranovskyi and Third Secretary of the Belarusian Embassy in Ukraine Dmytro Sudas were on a working visit to Volyn.

A crisis situation is developing with revenues to the Lutsk city budget. This was reported at an operational meeting by the first deputy mayor Sviatoslav Kravchuk.

If the elections for the President of Ukraine were held next Sunday, Viktor Yushchenko could win in the first round with 33% of the vote.