Ukraine's Central Electoral Commission stopped receiving applications of potential presidential candidates this weekend. 46 people submitted their applications. Among them are former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and chocolate tycoon Petro Poroshenko.
Vestnik Kavkaza discussed thr possible results of the elections with Ukrainian expert Sergey Slobodchuk.
According to Slobodchuk, Tymoshenko's chances of winning the race are much worse than in 2010, when she lost to Viktor Yanukovych.
"It's well known that Tymoshenko has the ability to understand the desires of the people and to charm voters. However her career has proved that she seldom keeps her promises. She can please voters, but doesn't seem capable of taking certain political steps," the expert says.
On the contrary, the newly-formed coalition of the famous boxer and leader of the UDAR party, Vitaly Klitschko, and businessman and former minister of the economy and foreign affairs, Petro Poroshenko, seems quite powerful, Slobodchuk says.
However, one should note that Ukraine is a country in which politics are dominated by tycoons known as oligarchs. If they feel threatened by Poroshenko's increasing power, they may support Tymoshenko. This will change the whole picture, the expert believes.
