Former Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer (1997-2000), who is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, has said that Regions Party leader Viktor Yanukovych, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Leader of NGO Front of Changes Arseniy Yatseniuk have the best chances of winning the presidential election in 2010.
“According to the results of social polls, three candidates –
Yanukovych, Tymoshenko and Yatseniuk – have the greatest chance of
victory. Tymoshenko and Yatseniuk are struggling to some extent for the
same voters,” he said in an interview with the Profile magazine.
The expert said that a new president would be determined in a run-off election.
“This will be a fight between Yanukovych, on the one side, and Tymoshenko or Yatseniuk on the other,” he said.
Speaking about the political views of three presidential candidates,
Pifer said that all of them are “pro-European and would like Ukraine
and the EU to get closer.”
He also said that despite the good prospects for Yanukovych,
Tymoshenko and Yatseniuk, there could be “surprises” during the
election.
