KIEV, May 16 (RAPSI) – The next Ukrainian president will serve a five-year term, according to the Ukrainian Constitutional Court’s decision released Friday. The early election is scheduled for May 25.

The next presidential election will be held in Ukraine in March 2019.

The political crisis erupted in Ukraine in late November 2013 after the government announced that it had halted the country’s association with the European Union. Mass protests, called Euromaidan, swept across the country and led to violent clashes between armed radicals and law enforcers in January and February 2014.

Ukraine went through a regime change on February 22, when President Viktor Yanukovich fled the country and Western-backed ultranationalist activists rose to power in Kiev. The Verkhovna Rada changed the constitution and set an early presidential election for May 25. Moscow has not acknowledged the legitimacy of the parliament’s decisions.

Pro-federalization rallies have swept southeastern regions of Ukraine after Yanukovich fled the country. Protesters, who have refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new authorities, have been gathering since March, demanding referendums on the status of their regions.

Donetsk region has claimed independence from Ukraine upon the outcome of the secession referendum which had been held on May 11.