Voting for Ukraines next president is underway, five years after mass protests resulted in a radical change in the countrys course. There are a record 39 names on the ballot in this years race.
Unlike the previous election in 2014, which billionaire former minister Petro Poroshenko won by a landslide following the Maidan protests, this vote sees several major candidates almost neck in neck ahead of the polls, which means the election might not end in the first round.
Read more
Should that be the case, the two candidates with the most votes received on Sunday will have a face-off three weeks later, on April 21. Opinion polls earlier this week put comedian Vladimir Zelensky as the front-runner. He is a newcomer in politics, campaigning on an anti-corruption platform and the image of a character (Ukrainian president) he played in a popular satirical TV show 'Servant of the People.' Critics say he is just a figurehead for tycoon Igor Kolomoisky, an allegation that both strongly deny.
The two people running behind Zelensky in the polls and head-to-head with each other are the incumbent president and another veteran of Ukrainian politics, Yulia Tymoshenko.
Poroshenkos campaign is focused on the promise that one day Ukraine will join the EU and NATO, an aspiration that was enshrined in the Ukrainian constitution during his first term. He also presents himself as a staunch nationalist as he suggested restricting the use of Russian language in Ukraine to promote Ukrainian and expressed his support to the newly-formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which the Russian Orthodox Church sees as a schismatic force.
Tymoshenko served as prime minister twice and spent three years in prison under Poroshenkos predecessor – which she insists was political persecution. Her main message is the promise of better living standards and a lower cost of living.
Apart from the three major rivals, the list, which consists of almost 40 candidates, also includes a couple of ex-ministers, the former head of the Ukrainian security service (SBU), several MPs, businessmen, public figures and journaliRead More – Source
[contf]
[contfnew]
RT
[contfnewc]
[contfnewc]
