The 3rd placed candidate in Ukraine's first round of a presidential election said on Jan.20 he would not support either opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich or Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a February runoff, Interfax news agency said.
"I have now taken up a position of neutrality. Let them carry out a political battle between themselves," former central bank chief Sergey Tigipko, who took 13 per cent of the vote on Sunday, said in an interview with Interfax.
The 49-year-old Tigipko said he had had talks with both Yanukovych and Tymoshenko. "There were specific offers, but my position has not changed," he said referring to an earlier pledge not to back either of the frontrunners.
Yanukovych , 59, who was disgraced by a rigged election in 2004, bounced back in Sunday’s vote, pulling about 35 percent of the vote against Tymoshenko’s roughly 25 per cent.
Both candidates are now trying to scoop up the floating voters of lower placed candidates such as Tigipko to win election in the Feb. 7 runoff.
The outcome will shape how Ukraine, an ex-Soviet state of 46 million people lying between the European Union and Russia, handles relations with its powerful neighbours.
It should also unlock frozen International Monetary Fund cash for Ukraine’s stricken economy. The Fund broke off its $16.4 billion programme because Kiev breached pledges to control the budget deficit.
