The cost of the presidential campaign could be up to $1 billion, Denys Bogush, Vice-president of Ukrainian PR-League has said at a press conference on Tuesday in Kyiv.
“The main candidates might spend more, but not less. The cost of these elections will be up to $1 billion,” he said.
At the same time, the expert said that there is hope that these
funds will be taken not from the state budget, but from offshore
accounts. As a result, the expert forecast that many people would be
able to earn money during the elections.
“As a result, there will be improvement of the economy and new purchases by former campaign workers,” he said.
Speaking about the peculiarities of the current election campaign,
Bogush said that in May it was possible to envisage three candidates
being able to enter the second round of the election, but now there are
only two candidates – Premier Yulia Tymoshenko and Regions Party leader
Viktor Yanukovych.
According to him, the so-called “second league” will include the
former parliament speaker, Arseniy Yatseniuk, Communist Party leader
Petro Symonenko, and Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko.
Director of the Penta Center of Political Studies Volodymyr Fesenko,
in turn, said that the current presidential campaign would not be so
divisive as in 2004. The expert characterized the coming presidential
campaign as “elections after a hangover.”
“Now ‘elections after a hangover’ are waiting for us – when voters
after the festive season are forced to go to the polls. Maybe some will
not even make it to the polls,” he said wryly.
In addition, the experts agreed that with the beginning of the
presidential campaign in Ukraine, a new stage of the formation of new
political forces would begin, and that this would continue after the
presidential elections.
